A Maple Story Story
by Silver Serpent19
Summary: This is a story about five people, an adventure, demons and the end of the Maple Story world as they know it. Who could ask for anything more? My story is good but cliche but still good and I WILL LOVE ALL READERS AND REVIEWERS! but no flames!
1. Chapter 1

"Ellinia just seems so… so peaceful," Tegu (TEE-goo) said with a sigh. She was a warrior two levels away from her second job and was earning experience for that day with agonizing slowness. Her sky shark outfit jittered along with her as she impatiently waited fighting horned mushrooms which barely earned her any skill points.

"I want to kill some mushrooms!!!!!!" she cried angrily, jabbing her fusion mace and swinging her red triangular shield around. "There aren't any around here!!!!"

Ral gripped her shoulder. He was a level 31 cleric with a green wizard robe and was armed with a circle winded staff.

"Tegu," he said calmly, "just wait. The mushrooms are inside the trees and we are going there."

"The sooner the better," she snorted.

"We have to wait for the others."

As if on cue three other people fell from a rope above the pair's heads. Among them was a level 32 bandit known as Lion, a level 27 magician by the name of Sam, and last was a recently advanced hunter named Kale who never seemed to have a clue about anything.

Lion was dressed completely in black and walked with a gait that matched his name.

"Come on let's go already," he said with a snarl. Being the most advanced of the group, he was the leader… or so he had declared himself.

The magician was following after him, pushing up his hat that fell over his eyes now and then. He tripped on his raggedy cape and blushed with embarrassment as Tegu had to pull him to his feet.

"I'm just as anxious as you are, Tegu." Sam swung his ice wand in front of her to show that he was ready to fight.

Tegu nodded with a sideways glance at Kale. The girl was being her usual self, smiling that eerie smile that never seemed to come off her face. Her green huntress armor seemed to be worn with pride because Kale had finally earned it.

"We need to get these two Noobs ready," growled Lion just as his name suggested. "Ral and… uh… 'It,' you guys help me kill some eyes while they stick to the mushrooms. Our party should help them advance quicker, and then we can finally go to Ossyria." Without waiting for a response he entered the portal leading to the trees full of monsters.

Ral looked at Kale and saw that her smile remained the way it always was despite Lion's comment.

"I like fried chicken," the huntress said.

"Good for you," said Tegu with a pat on the girl's shoulder.

The rest of the group followed after Lion. Tegu was engulfed in the glowing blue light of the portal and slowly Ellinia's forest came into view.

"How are we going to earn experience from you guys if you are in a different tree?" asked Sam

"Yeah, how are they, Lion?" asked Ral.

The Bandit turned around with a curl of is lip. "Bring them with us."

"But I can't kill curse eyes," Tegu complained.

"Then you and the magician can hang on a rope or something," he growled.

Kale nodded. "That's the quickest way I see," she said with a smile.

Tegu rolled her eyes and grumbled something under her breath about wanting to kill mushrooms.

The group continued on their way, watching beginners killing green slimes and stumps.

"I think this is the tree," said Kale. "Or maybe it was this one or maybe this one… wait… no… this one…" the huntress darted from tree to tree like a caffeinated squirrel.

"Why do we even have her in this group?" snarled Lion mostly to himself.

Ral glanced back and saw Kale's smile falter for a brief moment.

"This tree," said the bandit.

Tegu followed after the others as they went into the tree and she hesitated a moment before walking inside.


	2. Chapter 2

The tree was plagued with curse eye after curse eye as the group pushed their way through. Tegu had to narrowly avoid a curse eye before she jumped onto a rope of slime oozing down from the fungus like plant growing inside the massive tree. The revolting creature would have gotten her too if a magic claw from Ral hadn't shot forward and slaughtered the beast.

The warrior was horrifically bored as she and Sam hung from ropes that were side by side above the action. Tegu inched down a bit to watch what was happening below her but she squealed with fright when a bouncing curse eye grazed her feet. Thankfully her party let her gain more and more experience, or else she would be out pounding cute little mushrooms with her mace.

Meanwhile, down below, the three others were shooting bolts, stabbing daggers, or firing arrows at the monsters. Ral was perfectly satisfied to hurl his magic at the curse eyes from a safe distance, Lion got up close to kill them with one or two blows to the forehead with his Zamadar dagger, and Kale skipped around the monsters, happily loading her bow and taking them down.

Soon the worm-like monsters were dropping in amounts but nearly as quickly as one was killed another took its spot.

"Lion, I suggest we get out of here, we can't stop them all and I'm getting tired," Ral panted.

The leader looked to Kale for her opinion although he ignored it as soon as she opened her mouth.

"I'm fine, I have enough energy to keep on killing these curse eyes… ewwww, I shot that one in the eye… Ral there's one behind you… maybe I should try my special attack… hey that worked, it burst into flames! I wonder if I try this attack…" Kale's smile only vanished when she needed to talk.

Angrily Lion ripped out a star and flung it with insane accuracy at the curse eye Kale had been about to kill with her special attack. It hit the creature in between the shoulder blades and it slumped down on the ground. The hunter's arrow barely grazed the top of the curse eye as it continued swiftly through the air and into the tree's bark.

"Hey," said Kale, "I had that one."

"Don't you ever say something that remotely makes sense?" he snarled.

"Maybe," the huntress snickered.

Lion threw up his hands in defeat and stormed out of the tree using a recently cleared path of dead or dying curse eyes.

Sam jumped down and tried to follow after him but curse eyes spawned from thin air as always and blocked his path. He scrambled back up the rope as he waited for the others to clear his path for him.

Kale seemed confused at Lion's outburst.

"Don't pay attention to him," said Ral. "Now help me clear a path of curse eyes for us to get out of here."

Kale's confusion was insanely brief. "Okay, I'll kill them for Tegu and Sam. Ewww curse eyes are so disgusting with their one eye and bumpy, slimy skin. They remind me of snakes only snakes aren't as gross and they don't have legs but they do have sharp teeth. Hey, sharks also have sharp teeth and they have rows and rows and rows of teeth. I wonder if there are any sharks in Aqua Road. Probably not but they do have cute little fishies…" within moments Kale was back to her usual self.

The floor beneath Tegu's feet splashed with curse eye slime as she jumped down to the ground. "We should seriously think about making this party a guild."

"Eventually." Sam came down too and nearly lost his balance after slipping on some of the sickly slime.

The path was now big enough for the four of them to walk out of the tree without any curse eyes spawning to block their way.

As the group walked out of the tree Tegu swung her mace right at a curse eye's face with a smile as it tried to follow after them. The curse eye was stunned but by the time it focused the group had gone.

That was when the forest began to violently shake.


	3. Chapter 3

Several trees had fallen over due to the earth shattering impact of the rock. As the party caught up to Lion they stopped dead in their tracks at seeing the massive object.

It had crashed right in the heart of Ellinia and was steaming like a meteor would be after just falling through the sky. However, this was no meteor. The object was a sickly black color and looked more like a capsule composed of the depths of the earth.

The group of adventurers stood before it and even Kale stopped smiling when she saw it. Yes, the dark color made it look quite devilish but it was neither a time for happiness nor fear. Just total awe.

"What is it?" Sam whispered.

None of his companions responded. The massive rock seemed to have shot up from a crack in the earth below it that was once a gaping hole and landed with a crash. Yet, slowly but surely, the ground from whence it came was repairing itself and after a few moments there was no evidence of how the object had came.

Tegu took a step closer to the rock like capsule. "It holds something…" she said quietly.

Around her more and more Maple adventurers came up to stare at the thing. They all knew she was right but the question was _what does it hold?_

Somewhere in the crowd a magician fired a bolt at the rock but seconds before it hit the capsule the bolt bust in to a grim and stomach churning rotting black ooze-like blob.

At that there was a loud hissing sound and the capsule broke apart with a groan. It split into three perfectly divided sections of the molten earth and a few people had to jump away as the pieces crashed into the ground. However, none of the five adventurers paid attention to that; it was the thing inside it that their eyes were glued to.

At the dead center in the divided pieces of rock stood a monstrosity of a creature no one had ever laid eyes upon before. It looked like that of a horribly disfigured dog, blown up to more than fifty times bigger so that Tegu and her companions were no bigger than half its arm. Three of its paws were like a dog's but the other one was a horrible clawed talon that dug into the ground with vicious razor-like nails. Its body was covered in a thick brownish fur except for its tail. The fur molded into the tail at a point and the appendage resembled the tail of a scorpion only this was made out of a living rock. The tail groaned and grinded whenever it moved, showering bits of dust and gravel on the ground below. Last there was its head. The muzzle of the creature was fairly flat but it had a nose like a dog or a bear and horribly twisted distorted ears. Its piercing yellow eyes with slit red pupils were located on either side of the monster's head and its curving mouth curled up around the sides of them. Protruding from its mouth were two long and glistening fang-like teeth that stuck in crazed directions from its bottom jaw in a massive under bite.

The party of five could not break their gaze away from it as the monster's eerie yellow eyes darted this way and that as if searching for something. After a moment its eyes locked onto the group for what seemed like an endless amount of time before it looked away.

With a gruesome creak the creature unhinged its jaw and opened it so wide that the bottom jaw was pressing up against its chest. By doing this it revealed rows upon rows and rows of jagged teeth much like a shark. From the side of its mouth an inky black tongue lolled out, dribbling grey saliva that burnt holes in the ground below. In this position the monster took a breath and bellowed an ear splitting roar that shook the forest with unlimited power and jarred all Maple adventurers to the bone.

"Not good," Sam whispered.

"Not good at all," Tegu said back as the monster began to advance toward them.


	4. Chapter 4

The only sound that could be heard was the screaming of Maple citizens and the thundering footsteps of the creature as it came closer and closer to the group of five.

Ral and the gang watched helplessly as a few people fired an arrow or a bolt only to see it had no effect on the monster. Once realizing this, the area erupted into pandemonium as adventurers were trampled while they fled away from the beast. A few of them, like Tegu and the others were frozen to the spot out of sheer terror or in Kale's case, how the thing reminded her of a disfigured version of a stuffed animal that she owned three years ago. However, those that didn't move were in no harm unless they were in the way of the monster as it advanced toward the party. It was the five that it was after.

The first one to move was Lion. He flung a star at the monster even though he knew what the out come would be. Like the other attacks, the star harmlessly bounced off the monster with no effect.

"I have a better idea!" cried Sam through the screams.

"I already know what it is!" Tegu cried back.

"RUN!" screamed Ral.

The party raced away from the monster just as its massive rock tail came smashing down into the spot they were standing moments ago.

The creature gave a roar of anger and broke into a lumbering sort of gallop after the group.

"What are we going to do now?!" yelled Sam.

"Run faster!" suggested Kale.

"No," snarled Lion despite the fear he felt. "Climb a tree!" The bandit used haste which was very weak with only two skill points but it made the group just a little bit faster as they scrambled for the nearest tree.

Lion swiftly leapt up a massive tree with a portal and Tegu clumsily climbed after him, her chain mail dragging her down. Exhaustedly she reached the top and watched as Sam climbed up another tree with agonizing slowness and the other two waited to climb up after him. Quickly Ral noticed how fast the monster was approaching and he ran to another tree while Kale still stood underneath Sam who was still climbing.

"Kale!" Ral shouted frantically. "What are you doing?! Hurry up a tree!!!!"

She shook her head which was already shaking from fright. "I know what I'm doing!" The huntress tried to smile but her fear betrayed the quivering smirk on her face.

Kale fitted an arrow into her bow with shaking fingers and closed an eye for aim. The monster came closer and closer as she adjusted her arrow.

"You idiot!" cried Lion. "You know that thing is invincible!"

"No, I'm not entirely sure if it is or not. Everything has a weakness," she said with a tremor in her voice.

"Kale!" screamed Sam. "Just stop and think!"

"I don't have time for that," she said as the creature stood before her, looking at its victims. The creature looked at her, then to Tegu and Lion, then Ral and to Sam. It was going after the helpless magician.

"You are betting this all on luck!" cried Lion as the monster unhinged its jaw to eat Sam.

"Yes, but you should know about luck, Lion, you're a bandit. It's one of the only things we archers and thieves have got." With that, Kale loosed her arrow right as the creature leaned toward Sam.


	5. Chapter 5

The arrow soared upward and although Kale was aiming for its eye, the arrow found its mark in the creature's nose.

At impact the monsters swung it head from side to side and bellowed in pain as the arrow went into its nostril and poked out the other side for all to see. Angrily and in pain it swung a giant paw at Kale and sent her flying. The huntress crashed into a tree and remained still.

While the monster was distracted with the arrow up its nose Tegu, Ral and Lion saw it as a chance to spring into action. Tegu landed on its shoulders, Ral on its head and Lion on the end of its snout near the arrow.

Ral climbed closer towards Kale's initial target, the eyes. He clung to the caterwauling creature and fired a bolt.

That only made the monster even more angry as it immediately began to thrash about and Tegu and Lion nearly lost their grip on the creature while Ral half jumped and was half thrown off the creature. The creature was furious as it did whatever it could to shake the nuisances off despite the literally blinding pain it felt.

Lion had trouble trying not to empty his stomach's contents after seeing the eyeball sizzle.

"I wonder…" said Tegu in the midst of the roaring and panicking of other Maple adventurers. She took out a saber she had in her inventory for when something sharp instead of a mace would be needed and raised it high above her head, ready to lodge it into the monster's shoulder blades. Tegu hurled it down with a driving force and immediately the edge of the sword burst into a flurry of sparks as it was grinding into the invisible barrier that protected the monster from attack such as bolts and stars. This time the barrier wouldn't be enough. The warrior continued driving the saber down with all her strength releasing more sparks as she pressed it further into the barrier causing a horrific grinding sound.

"I… may not… have luck… but I've sure got warrior strength!" cried Tegu as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. With a loud shattering noise the barrier burst and Tegu fell forward due to her sheer force as the sword plunged into the flesh of the monster right between the shoulder blades.

The creature erupted into a series of spasms as it angrily roared its mighty bellow. The scorpion-like tail of it swung across its back and knocked Tegu right off but it only dug the saber deeper into its flesh.

Lion knew things we going to get ugly and he held up deadly star to chuck into the monster's open mouth and finish the thing off. Just as he was about to toss it in Sam shot a bolt at the star that made it glow with an eerie sort of energy charged from the bolt. At that Lion hurled the star into the throat of the monster and jumped down before the creature could could erupt into a frenzied pain.

Tegu and Ral staggered to their feet as they watched the creature twist and thrash in agony, swinging its giant paws and massive tail of living rock at trees. The trees would creak then fall as the monster continued on its way, tearing down all kinds of things that stood in its path. It was blinded so it couldn't see its targets or smell them because of the arrow lodged in its nose and so it wandered aimlessly through the forest leaving a trial of destruction. Finally, it collapsed to the ground with a loud thundering crash as its life ebbed away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note:** every story needs some wise ancient guy to explain the whole thing to the characters so that the story makes sense to readers and it doesn't have to be explained later

Tegu sat in a room belonging to an old wizard priest. He had stopped by and offered them help after making the remains of the monster disappear with an unknown spell. The party had asked him for his name and why help was helping them but the wizard just shook his head and said that it didn't matter.

The room was oddly welcoming and had a table, a few chairs and a large bed where Kale lay still unconscious. Ral was examining the contents of his pack, Lion was counting mesos and Sam was staring out into the distance probably thinking about something.

The warrior took another rag, utterly bored, and began rubbing it back and forth on her saber which had somehow been stained black by the creature's blood. The black color turned out to be black even before the blood dried. Tegu just couldn't get the color off her sword.

A creak in the opening door signaled that the priest wizard was back. He had a large steaming teapot and six cups stacked upon one another.

"Would anyone like some tea?" he asked in his cracking aged voice.

"What is it with wise wizard dudes and tea?" asked Lion.

"Calms the mind," he said as he set the stuff on the table and poured himself a cup.

Lion accepted the answer even though he didn't like it.

"Why are you helping us?" asked Ral who was done messing with his pack.

"It doesn't matter," the wizard said bluntly.

"That's your answer to everything!" complained Sam.

The old man nodded as he took a long sip of his tea. "Yes, but when I say that it really doesn't matter. All that matters is that everyone's alright."

"Well we don't know about her," Lion said jerking his head at Kale.

"Ah, yes the huntress. She had a broken rib but I healed it with some magic. She should be okay and awake soon," he said as Tegu began violently scrubbing her sword.

"What was that thing that attacked us and why didn't it want to kill anyone else?" asked Ral, changing the subject.

"Now that matters," he answered as he beckoned Tegu to hand him her sword.

"So? What was it?" asked Sam.

"That, my dear boy, was a demon," the old wizard said. "It was a combination of monsters commonly found throughout Maple Story. This one was a mixture of a stone golem, a cerebes and probably some balrog too only with a lot more power. I'm surprise that you were able to kill it." He looked at Tegu's sword from different angles then took a finger and gently rubbed it along the side, wiping away the blood stain on the sword where his finger touched.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" asked Tegu but the wizard ignored her.

"Yes, yes, it is dark magic at work here; this demon must have come from the depths of the earth."

"That's what the rock thingy that it came in showed," said Ral.

The old man nodded. "Dark forces are definately at work here. I knew this day would come but it just seems too soon."

Lion groaned. "You're not going to tell us something about a prophecy or something, are you?"

The wizard smiled with amusement. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."


	7. Chapter 7

"The prophecy was read and interpreted long ago by four great wizards. It said that the-" the wizard stopped his story because he had been interrupted.

"LETTUCE!" cried Kale as she jerked upward.

"Glad to see you have joined us," said the old wizard.

"I'm alive!" Kale cried with delight.

Lion rolled his eyes.

"Lion," said the huntress, "this is another reason for me to smile."

The bandit snorted and was the only one who did not get up to give Kale a hug or a welcome back even though she hadn't gone anywhere. The others also filled her in on the events that she missed as well as a few words honoring her bravery.

"As I was saying," the old wizard spoke up, "the prophecy was originally written in stone in the writing of Anglo Saxon runes which are only known by the creatures of the highest power. After many years it was decoded and even that was an uncountable amount of time ago. As the years passed more and more people believed this prophecy was never to be fulfilled. Many people awaited the doom that was said to come but it never happened while others decided to kill the Demon Lord before it did.

"Anyway, this prophecy stated that the demons of the uttermost regions, under the ground and farther than any traveler has ever reached, would not be satisfied with the land they claimed. They would seek more land to own and eventually turn our world into theirs."

"Is that it?" asked Ral.

"You see," the wizard continued, "the Demon Lord has a way of seeing into the future but it only shows him bits and pieces and it isn't always what he wants to see. This is why the demon was after only you five. You are the ones responsible for the future death of the Demon Lord if the prophecy was to be fulfilled and he would have control over our world."

"So he wants to kill us now?" asked Tegu, just as confused as the others.

"Precisely," the old wizard responded. "He is going to bring in as many reinforcements as possible to destroy you five and there will be demons barring your path as well."

"What path?" asked Sam.

"Why the path to kill the Demon Lord of course!" the old wizard chuckled. "As the prophecy states 'only those of chosen quality must pass the sacred test of the elements and befall the Demon Lord.'"

"And that means…?" Lion asked irritably.

"You five will be chosen by your weapons-" he began.

"This makes even less sense than before!" cried Lion.

The old wizard sighed. "Perhaps if I show you." He left to a room and returned with a chest.

The five Maple adventurers held their breath as the wizard opened it.

"These are the weapons I spoke about. If they are meant for you then you are the chosen ones to fight the four Elemental Demons and defeat the Demon Lord… if you survive," he said grimly.

The wizard reached into the chest and took out an amazingly crafted dagger that had a black spiraling blade and a flawless white hilt in deep contrast to the blade.

Immediately Lion's hand began glowing black through his black gloves.

"Lion," said the wizard, "I believe this weapon has chosen you." With a slight bow of his head the priest handed over the dagger to Lion's open hand.

"Kale," said the wizard as he pulled out a beautiful gold and red bow with a matching quiver, "I believe this weapon has chosen you."

The huntress staggered over to the wizard from her bed with her smile bigger than ever and a glowing golden hand. The wizard bowed again and handed her the bow and quiver.

"Ral and Sam," said the wizard holding a light green and light blue staff and a wand of the same color, "I believe these weapons have chosen you two."

The two mages happily accepted the weapons in their glowing green hands.

"And last but certainly not least, Tegu, I believe this weapon has chosen you," said the wizard. In his hand was a sword with a sapphire blue blade and a beautiful twisted hilt of deep purple and dark green metal.

Tegu looked at her glowing blue hand and received the sword with a racing heart.


	8. Chapter 8

The wizard gave them all a moment to examine their weapons in awe as he closed the chest and left the room.

"I can't believe it, this is so cool!" cried Kale.

"I know!" agreed Sam.

"But we are only receiving these weapons because we are destined to kill the Demon Lord and his minions," Lion bitterly pointed out.

"Not to mention the 'Elemental Demons,'" Tegu grimly added.

"I take it back but these weapons are still totally awesome," said Sam.

"I wonder when we will start our journey," said Ral.

"What journey?" asked Kale.

"Didn't you hear the old guy?!" cried Lion. "The journey to kill the Demon Lord and stop him from turning our world into a land of demons and stuff!"

"Oh," said Kale. "That journey."

"Your journey," said the wizard as he walked into the room, "will start tomorrow at sunrise."

Heads turned to wait for him to add more.

"You all must journey into the outer regions of the demons and defeat the four Elemental Demons," he said. "These demons have every part of monster in their element.

"After that you must continue in that direction only you will head at a slope and eventually reach the castle of the Demon Lord and destroy him before he can take over the earth."

The five began to pack their belongings that they thought would be important. After all, this was going to be a very long journey.

"A few more things," said the wizard. "Each one of you has an element with your selected job. Remember this when you fight the four demons because it will be of your advantage if you have the same element as the demon being fought. Sam and Ral, you have the element of water, Tegu you have earth, Lion has fire, and Kale has air.

"Tonight you can spend the night here and while you are sleeping I will pack bags for you five full of necessary items for your travels."

"Last you will need a source of direction and what better way of guidance than a demon?" he added.

The party was speechless.

The wizard opened a door wider than it was and in walked a sinister looking beast. It was about the size of a tiger covered in dark purple fur. The demon had a face with a short snout like a tiger but with big triangular violet eyes and a deadly looking smile with one viciously sharp silvery metal looking tooth poking out from the top of its mouth. The creature had a nose similar to a dog's and a deep crimson diamond atop its forehead. It had large ears like a rabbit and below these ears were jagged teardrop shaped horns that drooped down with the point deadly and shining. The horns were also purple but with a bluish tinge, the same color of the stripes on its neck. The neck of the demon was about three times the length of a tiger's (which isn't very long) and it connected to a body with rippling muscles. The creature had paws like a tiger's only with claws that seemed to be made of the same glimmering silver metal as the tooth. The tail of the creature had spikes that also seemed made of metal going down it and the tip of the ended with an odd looking hand type thing clutching a glowing red orb.

"I would like you five to meet Aspen, as she will be traveling with you," said the wizard.

"Charmed," Aspen said as she sat down and began washing her forepaw with a pointed light purple tongue.

"What mix is she?" asked Sam.

"I was created by the Demon Lord for the fun of it. He wanted me to be exotic and unique," she snarled.

"Yes, she is a full fledged demon and can be just as sinister but she is not entirely evil and will be accompanying you on your journey. Aspen wishes to help you defeat the Demon Lord-" he stopped.

"I can tell them myself!" the demon snapped.

"Very well," said the wizard.

"The Demon Lord lets most of the demons roam as they please unless of course they have gone against his laws or are merely his minions to serve and kill as he commands or just sit there looking cute. I was his minion and I could take it no longer!" Aspen said fiercely.

"That's it, I will now leave you to sleep and Aspen will sleep with you as she will for the upcoming days." At that the wizard left, shutting off the light and closing the door behind him.

The party tried to share the one bed as they uneasily went to sleep but two people ended up on the floor. The five found it hard to sleep especially with that eerie glow from Aspen's gem on her forehead, the orb on her tail and her eyes that shined in the dark and the knowledge of the next day that awaited them.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: REEEEEEEEAAAAALLLLLY short chapter. I blame homework, school, writer's block and spastic diarrhea.

Dawn seemed to come too soon and within moments the wizard gave them their supplies and set them off.

"Anything I haven't told you can be explained by Aspen!" the wizard called as he waved goodbye.

"Yeah right," said the demon as they walked away from the house.

"So, _demon_," Lion sneered, "show us the way."

Immediately Aspen spun around at Lion and tackled him, pinning the bandit to the ground. "Only you would be ignorant enough to taunt a demon!" she snarled.

Lion still had that devilish look on his face. "You won't kill me," he teased.

Aspen raised a metal claw above his head to kill him when Ral stopped them.

"Knock it off you two!" yelled the magician, raising his new staff threateningly.

The demon looked at him and showed her fangs in a hissing snarl before jumping off Lion.

"Knew you wouldn't kill me," said the bandit as he dusted himself off.

"Ha, like I'd want to kill something as worthless as you," hissed Aspen as she stalked away.

"We just started traveling and you two are already fighting!" Tegu exclaimed.

"He started it," said Aspen.

"It doesn't matter!" cried Tegu. "What matters is that we reach our destination."

"You sound like the wizard," snorted Lion.

"Isn't he infuriating?!" yelled Aspen.

"Yes, but we need to go!" cried Sam above the fighting.

"I'm with Sam," said Kale.

Aspen turned around and stalked away from everybody.

"Now our guide leaves us?!" cried Lion.

"I never agreed to be your guide," snapped the demon.

"So you're leaving?" asked Ral.

"No," Aspen said angrily. "But if you wait and see…" The demon effortlessly bounded up a tree and scanned the area once she reached the top with her piercing violet eyes.

"Dead ahead," said Aspen as she came thundering down the tree. "But you don't have to be me to know that."

The party followed her gaze and froze. In the distance was the sickly form of a demon heading towards them.


	10. Chapter 10

The land was empty of all other Maple adventurers and the wizard's house was merely a speck behind the party as they fearfully walked closer to the monster.

"Why wait for it to reach us? We might as well continue on," Lion had said. Now the others regretfully came closer and closer to the demon.

"Now that looks like no stuffed animal I've ever owned," Kale said with a trembling voice.

"Let's hope its eyes and nose aren't protected," said Ral as the demon came closer into view.

"Or that it isn't protected at all," said Tegu.

The demon was about the same size as the first one they fought. This one was shaped like an enormous sickly color red snake with four legs, not exactly a lizard. Its face was long and pointed with swirling green eyes and no mouth. One of its front arms had two enormous claws, each one longer than someone's arm. Its other arm was made of thousands of spikes all jumbled together in an ugly and pointy tangle. One or its legs looked perfectly normal for a creature like it but the other leg was twisted with vines. The foot on that leg was in a shoe like thing made of an enormous reptilian skull. Lastly, its tail was over three people long and at the end was a large blade that glinted in the sunlight with a deathly appearance. The whole thing seemed like a mix of a drake, a Jr. necki, maybe a wild cargo or blood boom and anything else that could be thrown in.

Where the demon stood the ground slowly began to turn black with decay around its two feet. The decay slowly spread with each step the monster took. Ral and the others watched in horror as the trees around them began to rot.

Aspen took a sniff of the air and recoiled. "It's a Decay Demon," she hissed.

"We can see that!" cried Sam.

"Thankfully it has no protective barrier but the only way to kill it is to stab it or shoot it in the heart," the demon continued. "It _walked_ here; it didn't come from a rock thing that means it's swift and strong. This thing can shoot spikes from its arm and the vines around its leg can shoot out to strangle someone or merely just tie them up. I think that's it… except that when it dies everything 50 square feet around it will decay. And that includes us."

"ANYTHING ELSE?!" Lion cried angrily.

"So what are we going to do?!" asked Kale.

"Kill it then run like crazy," said Ral.

"I actually think that's our best bet," Tegu said, drawing her sword.

The others followed suit and took out their weapons while Aspen unsheathed her claws.

"We need to wound it so that it dies when we're out of its decay range," said Sam.

"Exactly," said Aspen. "Each one of you has a skill to contribute since this demon isn't any one element, and that's not necessarily the skill I'm talking about-"

"Listen, _demon_," said Lion with disgust, "I'm the leader around here and…"

Aspen bared her silver teeth in a snarl.

"…and let's all listen to you," Lion finished hastily.

"Good," Aspen said with a curl of her lip. "When I say skill I'm talking about the things you do best. Sam," she said with a jerking motion, "you're going to fire bolts at it to keep it occupied and Kale, you're best skill is being a distraction. Both of you are going to advert its attention from Ral and Tegu. You two have the job of delivering the fatal blow to its heart. I didn't forget you Lion; you're with me to weaken it."

"Fine," Lion groaned.

As the demon approached everybody got into their planned positions. Ral, Tegu, Lion, and Aspen were in trees, ready to jump on the monster when it was close enough and Sam and Kale were on the ground before it as distractions.

Once the demon was close enough to see its full form perfectly, the creature began to toss its head in the air. The skin where its mouth would be began stretching and the jaw muscles of the demon were clearly straining. There was a ripping noise as the demon began tearing apart the skin that had closed up its mouth. The sickly red creature continued to open its jaws wider until the last piece of skin detached with a popping noise and the jaws of the demon had been torn apart.

At that, the mighty demon gave a loud rumbling roar from the back of its throat, one that shook the forest to its roots. The creature took one giant step towards the six and swung its two long claws in front of it, tearing up the trees around it and releasing another roar.

"Oh man," Lion said with a smile to Aspen, "This is going to be good."


	11. Chapter 11

"I don't like this," Sam said as the demon eyed them curiously.

"Smile!" cried Kale through clenched jaws. However, she was still smiling.

"Get ready to jump," hissed Aspen from her spot on the tree.

The reptilian mix bent toward Sam who was smiling with quivering lips and sniffed him. With a roar the monster shot its head forward with open jaws to claim its victim but Sam was ready and he dove underneath the demon firing magic claws at its underside.

The demon roared and snaked its neck underneath itself after the magician. That was when Kale began rapidly shooting arrows at its side. The demon jerked its head toward her, jaws outstretched, but angrily drew its head back as Sam shot more bolts underneath it. A squelch was heard as the mixed monster stomped its foot into the decaying ground with annoyance. Its tail swished through the air blindly trying to get rid of the pests but Kale fired an arrow that made the demon stumble forward to the trees where the others waited.

"Now!" cried Aspen. At that, the four detached from their places in the trees and landed directly on the back of the creature.

The demon threw its head about angrily trying to get rid of them. Its jaws bit into Tegu's chain mail but Aspen fiercely swiped her paw next to the monster's eye and it reluctantly released the warrior.

"Kale, Sam," Lion said angrily, "now would be a good time to do your job!!!!!"

The distractions began taking the beast's attention off the people on its back by rapidly firing bolts and arrows.

With an ear splitting roar the demon spun forward at Sam and shot spikes from its deadly arm. The magician barely had time to duck and within moments the demon fired again. Sam dove into the ground painfully as the spikes grazed his back.

Kale ran towards Sam to help him but a vine from the demon's leg shot forward and wrapped around her ankle. She was then dragged backwards on her back towards the leg of the demon as she twisted and tried to get out of its grip. The archer tried to fire an arrow at the vine to sever it but another vine came and wrenched it out of her hands. Her eyes grew wide with terror as more vines began wrapping themselves around her body, fastening her arms tightly to her body.

Aspen looked around hopelessly as Sam barely dodged another mess of spikes. "I suppose we're the distractions now," she said to Lion as she lifted her two front arms with unsheathed claws and slammed them into the creature's flesh.

Ral and Tegu were nearly thrown off while they made their way to demon's chest as it threw its head back and desperately tried to shake them off.

Sam used this as an opportunity to jump up while the demon ceased fire and run over to help Kale.

The huntress was turning blue as the vines squeezed her tighter and tighter like a boa constrictor. Sam shot a few magic claws but the vine was two strong. The magician watched as Lion plunged his dagger repeatedly into the back of the demon. The blade tail of the monster swiftly whipped around to cut Lion but Sam fired a bolt at it and the tail flew in the opposite direction with the force. The bandit realized he had almost been decapitated and glanced at Sam and Kale who was nearly going to pass out. Lion then yanked out one of the few throwing stars he had left and sliced through several of the vines suffocating Kale. The rest of the vines fell away from the huntress limply and she fell to the ground gasping for breath.

Meanwhile Tegu and Ral were clinging to the base of the demon's neck for dear life as they tried to get down to the chest of the monster. With a furious swing the tail hit Tegu with the flat side of the blade so the air was knocked out of her. The warrior went flying through the air and landed on the ground. She stood up, winded and shaky as Ral inched closer. There was no way she could kill it now but Ral certainly could.

"Come on Ral, you can do it!" Tegu cried.

The cleric climbed to the chest of the demon and hung on it with an arm wrapped around its neck. He sucked in his breath, took out his new weapon and fired a bolt directly at the heart of the creature.


	12. Chapter 12

Lion clenched his jaw as the blade tail came right at him, the sharp side ready to dig into him when Ral shot the killing bolt and made the creature's tail go limp. With a roar the demon crashed into the ground. Aspen, Lion and Ral barely had time to jump off as it hit the hard dirt and began swinging its tail madly like a worm. The monster's limbs thrashed about with its claws and spikes scrabbling in the dirt, digging small holes.

"Let's get out of here before it dies!" cried Kale.

As if in response the ground around them began to turn black and slimy with yellow goop. It danced gruesomely across the ground, creeping up trees and seizing whatever it could in its deadly grip of decay. Sam broke into a sprint and once the others realized he was gone they joined him too with Aspen soon taking the lead.

Aspen quickly reached well over 50 feet with Sam and Lion not too far behind her. Ral, Tegu and Kale then made a mad dash for safety as the demon began to take shuddering breaths. It would die very soon.

Yet again Tegu's armor worked against her. It slowed her down and she was now the last one left to reach beyond the boundaries.

Sam jumped to run and help her but Aspen shoved him aside and surged forward. The black decay was racing faster and faster to clear 50 feet by the time the demon died but it was as if it was racing against Tegu and Aspen.

With a snarl Aspen leapt forward and grabbed Tegu's armor in her powerful jaws therefore dragging Tegu to the desired location. Aspen swung Tegu away from the decay as it came to a halt and the demon took its last breath. The decay seemed to lunge after Aspen's back paws before stopping and turning everything in its range into a soft and sickly mush. They had barely made it.

"Thanks," Tegu panted.

Angrily Aspen lunged at Tegu. "You almost got us killed!" she snarled. "Take that stuff off next time!"

Tegu got to her feet, shocked. "It makes me a warrior," she said softly.

"I don't care!" Aspen growled. "When we need a swift exit wear something lighter!!!"

"But it protects me," Tegu said as she walked over to the others.

"Look at the magicians, or Lion!" the demon said angrily. "They wear nice light clothing!"

"Kale has armor," muttered Tegu.

"But she's a fast archer and it doesn't weigh a ton!"

"Well I can't wear something like that, I'm a warrior!" Tegu spun and lunged at Aspen so that their faces were only inches apart.

"Cat fight," said Ral and Kale rolled her eyes.

"Fine then, wear it but next time I won't save your butt!" the demon snarled.

"Sheesh," said Tegu turning away, "you sound like Lion."

"Ooooooo," Ral whistled jokingly and Lion punched him in the arm.

"Be quiet and let's go," said Sam.

Aspen bared her teeth in a hiss at Tegu then stalked away into a thicket of trees.

The others followed her with Tegu at the rear.

After a while the trees became lower and many were losing their leaves. Night was quickly approaching and grim shadows were cast about the forest. Nothing looked familiar anymore and not a single person or monster crossed their path.

"I'm hungry," complained Sam.

"Maybe Aspen's taking us to a place full of magic or something totally awesome!" cried Kale.

Lion rolled his eyes and gave Aspen a questioning glance. "Maybe we should stop and eat then set out our stuff to sleep."

"We can't eat or else we will attract demons," Aspen snapped.

Ral's stomach groaned.

"And we can't sleep because bad things happen at night in the Forest of Shadows," Aspen added.

"I don't like the way that place sounds," said Sam.

"Then you really won't like the way the place looks at night."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** Now it's time for us to go visit the villain of the story where he reveals his diabolical scheme and speaks in a vocabulary no one uses today with a slight British accent. Also: this is going to be a very long story, not to mention a long chapter. Anyway, I'm going to try to continue it but my last chapter only got 7 hits (sob) and probably no one will notice if I quit my story.

Koylek curled his hand into a fist as he gazed into the black orb he held in his other hand. Angrily the Demon Lord threw the glass like ball onto the ground. It made a loud crashing noise but of course did not break.

"No, no, no!!!" Koylek bellowed. "How dare they, mere _mortals_, defeat another of my marvelous creations?! They were supposed to be eliminated!!!!"

The Demon Lord briskly leapt from his throne of stone and black marble and paced back and forth upon his black tiles that covered the floor of the cave from which he ruled.

Although the entire Demon Realm was engulfed in shadows Koylek's body became more detailed with the little light as he stood at the mouth of his cave.

The Demon Lord has the power to change his shape as he wishes to that of any known monster or a mix if he wants to. Koylek's favorite form above all was an entirely black mix between a lycanthrope and a crimson balrog. He stood nearly thirteen feet tall with a huge muscular body covered in thick black fur. At his shoulders the hair grew thicker as well as around his waist. He had long deadly silver claws which he found himself rather fond of and huge leathery black wings powerful enough to lift his heavy form. Koylek's head was like a wolf with a long pointed snout but with glowing red eyes. Atop his head he wore a giant skull helmet seemed to belong to the ram-like head of a balrog and it was the only white thing in his lair.

His silver nails on his feet made an intimidating clicking noise upon the tiles as he continued to pace.

"Martical!" he commanded abruptly.

From the shadows stepped a demon that was another one of Koylek's exotic pets. Martical was one of the three he had created, Aspen being one of them as well. Aspen had been the Demon Lord's favorite minion for her unique and obedient qualities until she escaped and was replaced by Martical.

"Yes, My Lord?" asked the minion. The she-demon was about the same size as Aspen with the same tiger-like form. She too had a fairly short snout with an appearance similar to a dog's. However, Martical was covered in thick red fur but at the bottom half of her muzzle and underbelly the fur was a yellowish color. She had big oval violet eyes but with a silver pupils. The demon also had silver nails, silver spikes going down her back and silver teeth. Martical had two silver fangs that always showed and could really inject venom protruding from her upper jaw. Atop her head the red fur stuck strait out or curled down near her eyes and in her face. Behind these askew hairs she had two large floppy ears with black splotches at the tips that hung down and moved with the slightest bit of wind. Around Martical's neck was a thick black collar type thing that had a sinister red diamond like the one Aspen had on her forehead. Above the demon's shoulders protruded two large black wings that had a few torn holes in it and were rather crooked. At the tip of her viciously long and muscular tail Martical had a long pointed silver triangle that she used to perform her malevolent duties and the very end of it had been stained red in the process. Slightly resembling a lucida she was Koylek's favorite minion.

"Martical, these five humans and Aspen," he said hatefully, "have destroyed my beloved decay minion."

"How unfortunate," said Martical and of course ended her sentence with, "My Lord."

"Yes, how very unfortunate indeed," Koylek snarled. "I need to put an end to these miserable fools once and for all."

Martical nodded and bowed.

The Demon Lord began examining his reflection in one of his large silver nails. "My borders are extending you know. However, my borders are not extended to the realm of the unsuspecting Maple travelers. That is where I wish to claim. But to do so, Martical, I need the six of them to be killed. And perhaps if I am lucky I can twist their souls into a demon. After all, that is the easiest way to make a demon and with so many souls from the monsters people are killing these days the possibilities are limitless!"

"Yes, My Lord."

"Come!" Koylek said abruptly, removing the skull helmet and scratching his large wolf-like ears. "I must summon my minions of the night. They are traveling into the Forest of Shadows you know."

"Wonderful, My Lord," said Martical.

Koylek spun around and stood at the mouth of his cave overlooking his land below him. Underneath the dark sky demons of all mixes toiled with certain tasks while others savagely attacked one another. The desolate landscape that the Demon Lord looked down upon in his mountain of black stone was covered in dying trees, boulders, and demons that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

"Ah, Martical," said Koylek fondly stroking his favorite minion's head as she sat beside him. "Isn't it just superb?"

"Perfect, My Lord," she said.

"Hey look, it's Koylek! Our Master is here!" cried a wild kargo and hector mixed demon. He was a part wolf and part lizard dragon by the name of Crag.

At his cry all heads immediately turned to face the Demon Lord as he stood looking down on his minions.

"Our Lord!" they cried and turned to face him. "Our Lord!" they all repeated and bowed to face Koylek.

"Thank you, Crag," Koylek beamed.

"No, no thank you, Master," bowed Crag.

The Demon Lord immediately stopped smiling when he noticed a demon was not bowing. He recognized the powerful demon mix as his most stubborn minion named Filth. Part cold shark and grim phantom watch, Filth looked like a ghostly shark with a metal thing on his head chained to a large floating ghost clock.

"Filth!" Koylek bellowed. "Bow before me!"

"I will serve you no longer!" said the demon in his whispery voice as a gasp rippled through the crowd.

Koylek smiled coldly. "Crag, bring the demon to me."

Crag walked toward Filth and as he grabbed him Filth attacked the demon. It took several other demons to restrain Filth and drag him directly below the Stone Mountain.

Koylek coolly swooped down to stand before the defiant demon and Martical swiftly followed after him.

"As you know I require a soul to summon the Night Demons. You are such a powerful minion your soul should do perfectly."

Filth's eyes widened in fear as Koylek smiled menacingly.

In a flash of black Koylek turned into his true form, an inky black shadow type thing that stood above even the Stone Mountain with glowing red eyes. A tendril shot forth as all the demons quivered in fright and it seized Filth. The inky black spread across the minion's whole body and his eyes shone white. The Demon Lord drew back and the tendril clutched a blubbering mass of sinister energy. Filth fell to the ground and slowly began to deteriorate as Koylek absorbed all the evil energy from Filth's soul. He then returned to his preferred form and held a shining white soul that hurt the demon's eyes. However, the minions soon got used to the light and began to drool hungrily at its pure energy.

"NIGHT DEMONS!" Koylek called. "Come forth! Your Lord summons you!"

Barely visible shadows began creeping across the ground towards the Demon Lord. Five shadowy figures came up before him eyes eagerly gazing at the glowing white soul.

"Perfect," Koylek said coldly. "I would like you to put an end to the travelers that stand in my way."

The minions grinned evilly and absorbed the pure energy from the soul as Koylek tossed it to them. Them they sank back into the ground as shadows and sped away to perform their duties.


	14. Chapter 14

Reviews make me happy.

The party of six uneasily made their way through the Forest of Shadows. They jumped at the slightest rustling sound in the trees or the slightest flicker of shadows. Every one except, that is, Aspen and Lion who walked defiantly through the forest scowling at the other's fear and also began to realize with disgust how similar they were.

The full moon didn't help at all. It barely shed any light through the thick trees of the forest and only cast more shadows among the travelers with its eerie glow.

Aspen had to intensify the scarlet glow of the ball on her tail so they could see their way and even still, Kale continued to crash into the trees around her.

"Dumb blondes," snorted Lion as he took the lead even you couldn't tell what color Kale's hair was in the dark.

Kale, as usual, was still smiling despite a nasty cut on her arm she got from a tree she crashed into.

The darkness unfortunately only grew worse as they continued into the heart of the forest (and Kale's smile shrunk) and monsters seemed to be lurking behind every tree. Even Lion's heart was pounding.

Tegu and Sam were quite jittery and only got worse when the dark intensified while Ral tried to keep his cool. At one point they couldn't see five feet in front of them and had to keep as close together as possible, sharing Aspen's weak but comforting glow.

There was a loud rustling noise behind Tegu and she spun around but saw nothing in the black night. Her eyes flicked around nervously and she kept glancing over her shoulder but nothing was there. Uneasily, Tegu knew she was behind everyone and a shiver rippled down her spine when she heard the noise again. Eventually she could take it no longer and the warrior whipped out her sword and blindly sliced into the darkness. It made the sound of cutting through wood whatever she just killed gave a loud dying groan.

Sam jumped at the sound and spun around as well. He shot a magic claw into the darkness; the blue light began to glow as it zoomed ahead of him. The magician could just barely make out the creepy one eyed monsters before the claw struck it and went out.

Aspen looked behind her to see a shaking Sam clutching her tail. "Look," he breathed.

The demon turned around and pointed the red orb on her tail towards where Sam and Tegu were standing and Ral, Kale and Lion stopped to look as well. The red glow shined off Aspen's silver teeth and claws as she stuck it as far out as she could to see in the dark.

Standing before them (or what was behind them) were stump monsters. They looked just like the stumps of trees but they walked with a strange sort of waddle on their roots. In the center of their bodies was one eyeball which would normally be round but on these monsters it was narrowed into an angry slit.

Straining their eyes to see in the darkness (which was no trouble for Aspen) the travelers saw chainsaws sticking out of a few of them. In Maple Story there were stump monsters with axes sticking out of them but never before were there chainsaws in them. Then again, there were no purple tigers or dogs with stone tails either.

"They go on as far as I can see," whispered Aspen. "Tons and tons of them just lined up."

"Why were they following us?" asked Ral.

"And why did they stop?" Tegu asked.

"They are the ideal monster to encounter in a place like this, however," Sam said.

"Yeah," agreed Lion, "even Kale wouldn't expect fluffy bunnies."

Kale dug her elbow into his ribs.

"Now is not the time," growled Aspen. "We need to kill these things… if they decide to attack."

"Even a demon has to have his loyal subjects," said a voice that seemed to becoming from the trees above them. "After all, they attack when I say so and I'd say now would be the time."


	15. Chapter 15

Back to the Demon Lord.

"Martical," said Koylek, "I must prepare the Elemental Demons."

"Why, My Lord?" asked his loyal minion.

"In case the Night Demons fail, of course," said Koylek.

"But My Lord, they have the power to control the monsters of the night and-"

"Martical!" the Demon Lord snarled.

Martical crouched to the floor quivering with a whimper.

"I know how to do my job you ignorant fool!" Koylek snarled. "I know that MY demons can control the monsters of the night in the forest and warp or strengthen their abilities! Do not tell me about MY demons!" Angrily the Demon Lord seized his black orb that was showing the travelers destroying him in the future and he hurled it at Martical. His minion gave a yelp as it crashed on her head but didn't break.

"I know more than you ever shall!" Koylek bellowed and Martical slunk off to the corner hidden in shadows. The Demon Lord fiercely turned into the armored ram-like form of a black taurospear clutching a long glowing weapon that could shoot glowing lightening bolts. He fired a few wild shots in his fit then returned to his preferred wolf and balrog mix.

"The Elemental Demons are a key part of the prophecy. Once they defeat my Night Demons the prophecy states they must destroy the Elemental Demons. After that they supposedly destroy me. However, I do not have to do everything in their favor. In fact, I'm feeling a bit unorthodox. Of course I'm going to make my demons; not doing so would only change the prophecy for my misfortune. Yes, I am going to create them but things are going to be different," he smiled coldly.

Koylek's nails made that menacing click as he walked to the back of his lair. There laid a green swirling vortex. Here and there claws and snouts could be made out amongst the spinning glow.

"Minions," the Demon Lord boomed. "I ask of you for two things. When your time comes kill the six travelers- no, wait. Yes, yes, kill them but if the point comes when they are clearly defeating you, capture one and retreat. It will be perfect bait to lure the rest of them to me."

"But My Lord," said Martical. "They are already heading this way."

Koylek seemed as if he was about to hit Martical with his claws when he stopped himself.

"Yes of course," he crooned. "But abducting one of them would be quick, for my minion would retreat back to me minutes after. Then we must keep the prisoner alive, you see, to not crush the others' spirits. When one realizes it is hopeless, for example all their comrades are dead, they retreat, and they do not surrender. This way it is best to bring them to me."

"Brilliant, My Lord," said Martical even though she didn't understand anything her master had just said. Of course she would never admit it; doing such a thing was not a part of her obedient nature.

Koylek sensed her confusion. "Just wait and see, Martical."

His minion nodded.

"But what of se second sing?" A hissing voice came out of the vortex.

"Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten?" Koylek said. "I have promised you unblemished souls in return for your service. Way down in the depths of my valley lays hundreds of my minions that toil the landscape because they no longer wish to serve me. Take them. Take them all. Absorb their souls and pure energy and absorb their powers as well, leaving nothing but their empty husks. By doing so you shall be granted with the ability to morph into their shapes and forms. Now it can't get much better than that, can it?"

"Wonderful, now swee may feast as we desire and build sup our strengs. Swiss way every sing swill be easier to do and swee can finally destroy sose meddlesome travelers onesss and sfor all," hissed the voice.

"Thank you, Water Demon," roared the Demon Lord. "NOW I SUMMON YOU, DEMONS OF EARTH, AIR, WATER, AND FIRE!!!! COME FORTH AND WREAK HAVOC AMONG THOSE WHO DO NOT SERVE ME!!!!!" The vortex shot into a geyser of glowing green then split into the four colors, red, dark green, blue and white. The four storming tendrils of energy and power then whooshed out the cave, shooting across the land towards the defiant demons.


	16. Chapter 16

Tegu wildly swung her sword around while Aspen and Lion attacked in perfect unison as if choreographed it was almost scary, Kale was madly shooting arrows and Sam and Ral were spinning around trying to protect each others back's randomly firing bolts. After all, it was pretty hard to miss.

"There are too many of them!" cried Kale.

"Exactly," said a different voice and what seemed to be a large mass of shadows loomed before her. "In sheer numbers, it is quite easy to overpower you pathetic humans."

"Yesssss how right you are," hissed another demonic voice.

"I know," it said.

The demon shrunk back into the night and the shadows seemed to flicker.

"Sssstumpsss finisssh them," the second voice commanded from the night.

"Of course!" Ral exclaimed. "The demons control the stumps," he said shooting a bolt over his shoulder.

"And if we destroy the demons the stumps won't attack us!" Kale smiled, surprised that she actually thought of something.

"I got it," said Lion leaping toward the demons.

The bandit ran forward to the Night Demons swinging his dagger at the stumps blocking his way. Lion seemed to be engulfed by the darkness as he surged at the five demons while Aspen swung her tail where Lion was to kill the stumps.

With a battle cry he leapt at the shadows and saw five Jr. wraith monsters. They were little ghost monsters that wore a black cloak instead of the ordinary white one and two giant white eyes peeked out from the hood.

Lion laughed. "Jr. wraith? I could kill those in my sleep, these are easy monsters!"

"We are no easy prey," snarled one. In a flash it seemed to vanish into the ground amongst the shadows of the night. Lion tried to follow it as it crept along the ground but everything was covered in darkness. In seconds it materialized in front of Lion from the ground.

"Boo." It swung its covered arm and hit Lion across the side of his face.

The other four followed suit and raced among the shadows then appeared before Lion to deliver several blows to his body. When he lay in a crippled heap they gave a ghostly snicker and returned to the shadows.

Tegu shoved aside the stumps she was fighting and ran to Lion. She dragged him to the side of a tree listening to the sickly laughs of the wraiths.

Angrily she charged toward the nearest wraith and swung her sword at it. In a flash the demon vanished into the shadows before her sword reached it and then it appeared right before her. The air was knocked out of Tegu as it delivered a blow right to her stomach. She fell to the ground and lay there for what felt like hours to the others fighting the stumps. Then Tegu stood up and walked over to them when she calmed her breath.

"We need to kill them somehow!" she cried.

"Well obviously," said Lion from afar, "but how?"

Ral felt a sharp pain in his leg and looked to see a stump attacking him. He resumed killing the monsters. "Maybe we can't stop them because you've been attacking one of them at a time."

"So we need to attack all five at the same time?" asked Tegu, confused.

Kale looked stupidly at her bow. "Then I'll need a second bow," she said. Kale took out her old hunter's bow and tried to string both of them at the same time which, of course, did not work. "Darn," she said, "I can't do it."

"No Kale," Sam said. "We all have to attack them together. Sheer numbers remember?"

"That's going to be hard," Aspen grunted as she clawed a stump. "Look at all these things."

"One person can stay behind and fight," suggested Tegu.

"That'll be me," Ral said.

"Then let's do this already!" Sam cried, shooting a bolt into the black sky.


	17. Chapter 17

Ral found it quite difficult to hold back all the stumps but he managed it good enough to buy his friends some time.

"Looks like a one on one battle," Lion said, cracking his knuckles in an intimidating way.

"This shouldn't be too difficult," said Kale, advancing on the wraiths. "After all they're just little ghosties wearing Lion's bed sheets."

"Oh, they're mine, are they?!" the bandit snarled.

"Well, DUH, they're black aren't they?!"

"No time for talking, time for killing," growled Aspen.

"Works for me!" cried Lion as he launched himself at the closest wraith that was apparently unprepared because his dagger grazed it before the demon vanished into the night. It appeared right behind Sam who was busy with his own wraith and the monster soon had all its attention focused on its unsuspecting victim. The "ghostie" as Kale had put it did not convert into shadow form as Tegu lunged at it and delivered her sword strait into its heart (if it had one). There was a puff of black smoke as the creature vanished for good and the shadows seemed to lighten up a bit.

"One down, four to go," said Tegu as Ral suddenly realized it was easier to hold off the stumps.

"Yeah, but now they're prepared for our attacks," grunted Lion as he tried to hit a Night Demon but it vanished into the shadows right before he hit it.

"Heh, heh," cackled the shadows. "There may only be four of usss now but you are no match for our ssssssstrengthssss and abilitiesssss of ssshadowsss."

Another one began to laugh as it dodged Aspen's claws. It was a high pitched spine tingling "EEEEK ECK ECK EEEECK" type of noise. At that the other two followed suit and vanished into the shadows.

"Where did they go?" asked Sam.

"Right here!" one screeched and it appeared right in front of Kale. With that ear splitting laugh it punched the huntress right in the face, knocking her to the ground.

While everyone's attention was on that one wraith and Kale the other three monsters knocked everyone else to the ground but Lion who remained standing, but only for a little while.

Aspen staggered to her feet as she saw Lion go flying through the air and land near Tegu who had also been driven backwards with the hit. Angrily she sprang forward and growled with delight when her silver claws cut through a snickering wraith as if it were made of butter.

"All right, we're back on top!" she called happily. "All you need to do is catch them off guard!"

At this the remaining three wraiths stopped their laughing and angrily stared at their opponents whom clearly outnumbered them.

"Pay attention!" commanded one.

"I have an idea," said Lion as he wildly jabbed out at a wraith with his dagger.

"Yes?" Kale asked rapidly firing her arrows.

"Like an idiot like you would understand," snorted Lion.

Angrily Kale directed her aim at Lion's head and shot an arrow which he narrowly dodged.

Lion made a face at her but with a sharp jab in the ribs from Sam he explained his idea.

"They find joy when they beat us, right?" asked Lion.

"Go on," Tegu said while a wraith tugged at her hair, jerking her hair back.

"Well the wraiths get distracted when they laugh as Aspen just showed us. So we need to make them laugh."

"Right, I vote Lion to be the bait," Kale piped up.

Lion scowled and mockingly leapt at the huntress with his dagger.

"Sheesh, you guys are violent!" Sam cried.

"Anyone around him is," Aspen said rolling her eyes.

"Onetwothree NOT IT!" cried Kale.

Lion was the next one to say "not it" followed by Aspen, Sam, and unfortunately last, Tegu.

"No fair!" cried the warrior. "I'm fighting two wraiths that you guys are two busy to help me with!" Indeed she was but the group didn't see that as a good enough excuse.

"Go get them, tiger, er… Tegu," Aspen said giving her a shove. "If we're lucky they will be too busy fighting you to pay attention."

Tegu hesitantly walked away from the group and the wraiths near them as well. One grinned demonically and Tegu shivered. The wraith mumbled something to the others and they soon floated away towards their "unsuspecting" victim.

The Night Demons vanished into the shadows and crept after her. Tegu didn't hide her fear as she looked over her shoulder, it would probably make it more convincing anyway.

In a flash the three wraiths appeared before her and one made that horrible screeching noise of joy as each one of them hit her so hard she went flying backward- again. After that she passed out.

Aspen was the first one to reach the snickering wraiths and with a growl she lunged forward and tore one to shreds. Sam shot a magic claw that hit one dead on and Lion tried throwing his dagger like a throwing star which hit the last wraith with insane accuracy.

When Tegu regained consciousness, a significant amount of shadows had left the forest and Ral was no longer being mauled by stumps.


	18. Chapter 18

After stopping to eat and rest as well as another day of traveling with few monsters the six found themselves ten paces away from the Demon Lord's realm. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day but those ten paces before them gave way into total darkness. No object could be made out past those ten paces. It was the portal into the Demon World and beyond it, no one was sure. No one actually lived to explain it.

Ral leaned forward and squinted at the portal. He could make nothing out in the blackness.

"Everyone for turning around say 'I,'" said Sam as he turned on his heel and walked away.

Aspen swung her paw and knocked him back toward the others. "This is what we've traveled days for, walked through forests and battled demons, Sam. It's too late to turn around now."

"And it would have been quicker if everyone wasn't bickering every ten second," said Tegu looking accusingly at Lion, Kale and Aspen.

"Well take off your armor," Lion said angrily reminding Tegu of her fight with Aspen.

"Hey, I had good rights to argue with her about that!" yelled Aspen.

"I know," said Lion. "I'm just saying that she can't go accusing us like that."

"Or call me an idiot!" Kale shouted at Lion angrily.

"Just stating the obvious," the bandit said coolly.

Kale got ready to spring on him when Ral jumped forward and held her back. "Why is it that you two are always fighting?"

"Well let's see, one is a hothead and the other one is an optimistic airhead, they go together like black and white," Aspen said.

"HEY!" Lion shouted.

"I think hothead and airhead rhyme," Kale said, staring off into space.

"Calm down, Lion," said Tegu, "I'm sorry I brought that up. Now are we going to go in there or not?" The warrior pointed to the black wall.

"I vote not, but I know we're just going in anyway," Sam said.

"Lion should feel right at home in there," Kale snorted.

Tegu took out her sword threateningly when Lion lunged at Kale. "Next person to fight gets decapitated!"

Kale hesitantly stuck out her tongue and touched it to the black wall. Immediately she leapt back coughing and spitting.

"I'll take it this is going to be harder than we thought," Sam sniffed.

"Hey, nothing really ever was easy to begin with now, huh?" said Tegu.

"Now before we go in," Aspen said, "you will be giving up your option to stay in this world and you'll be stuck in the Demon World. In other words, you can never leave. Unless of course we defeat the Demon Lord and that's exactly why we're here.

"And one more thing, when you enter you won't recognize yourselves." She left it at that.

The others were silent and they slowly walked into the portal, their hearts' wildly beating like caged birds.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: **sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter but I thought it would be obvious what was going to happen (I hope it wasn't too obvious Oo) and I'm really sorry about all my short chapters but I seize the best time to end it and if my chapters were longer they would not be posted once a week.

Lion and Aspen were the only ones not to gasp when they walked into the portal and saw what lay on the other side of it. Before them was a vast expanse of barren wasteland of dry cracked earth and old rotting trees. The color seemed drained of everything, the only colors were either too light to notice any color in it or so dark that it blended in with the rocks, trees and sky. Besides themselves, the only other forms of life they saw were the occasional bat-like stirge and flyeye mix. Just when they thought nothing could get any worse they looked at each other.

As Aspen had said, they didn't recognize each other. The five had turned into demons.

The cat-like demon sat and began washing her paw as she watched everyone panic.

"Oh my gawd I'm a demon!" Sam said so fast no one could really make out what he was saying. "Oh my gawd you're a demon!" However, his words were pretty much in the mouths of everyone else. Everyone else except Kale, that is, who turned into a grayish orange Jr. yeti mix. Jr. yetis are pathetic little mounds of fur with two little beady eyes and no mouth. Her mix gave her one black horn atop her head and that was it. She was trying to say something but nothing came out.

Sam was looking at everyone through two big bulgy eyes for he had turned into a drake mix. He had trouble seeing because of the giant horn on his nose blocked his vision. He was a dirty brown color and his tiny little arms seemed out of proportion with his massive bulk. He was mixed with a stone golem of some sort because his two feet were made or stone.

Ral began to laugh at the stupid look that all drakes are known for when he realized that he himself was in no position to do so. He was a crow and mushroom mix. He had a large pale squishy body with creepy yellow rimmed eyes and itty bitty dark blue wings that couldn't manage to get him off the ground.

Tegu wanted to laugh at Ral's feeble attempts to fly but she herself was too afraid at what she might look like. She had become the very creature her party fought not too long ago but what seemed like ages to her now. Tegu was a curse eye mix. She couldn't see very well with her one eye and she was dripping slime. Her mixed part was wild boar and she had two tusks protruding from her mouth.

Lion was just as afraid as Tegu was, although he would never show it. He became the very creature know for its cuteness other than a mushy. He was Jr. grupin mix. These were adorable little monsters with big watery eyes and they looked a bit like unicorns if it wasn't for their round head. He was covered in dark purple fur with an orange horn on his forehead and hooves with a horse's tail. The mix in him was something spiky, for he had spikes going down his back.

"Told you guys you wouldn't recognize yourselves. By walking in here you now serve Koylek, the Demon Lord. Of course he wouldn't have humans as his minions. However, the good news is that when battling the Elemental Demons and the Demon Lord you will return to your human selves. Unfortunately for everything else you fight you'll be stuck like this," Aspen explained. "There's more good news though. These demon forms will adapt to your personality and will become more maneuverable as we move on. What I'm trying to say is, Lion you will become more ferocious, probably a full grupin, Sam you'll be able to walk easier and maybe a new mix will poke through, Kale will become a happier monster that can talk, Ral will probably become a slimmer mushy with bigger wings that can actually get you airborne and Tegu… ugh… Tegu… will become less… gross."


	20. Chapter 20

"GAAAAAAA!!!!" Sam cried. "I'm a really ugly drake and I can't even walk!" He ran to the black portal, tripping in the process and pounded on the black wall with his out of proportion arms.

"I told you that you can't leave," Aspen said calmly.

"But you escaped!" said Sam. He gave up and turned around to the others.

"From behind Koylek's mountain and he opened it for me," she said with a glare.

"How did you get him to do that?" asked Ral as they started walking (crawling, slithering and bouncing) away from the portal.

"I gained his trust," Aspen shivered at the thought.

"That must've been hard," Lion said and his words came out in a hilariously cute baby voice.

Everyone began to laugh (except Kale) at his little voice.

"Shut up!" he cried. "Just you wait until I'm a big adult grupin!" However, it still came out in that funny baby voice.

They stopped laughing for a little while, but just a little. Then Tegu burst out laughing which sounded like slobbering grunts and the others joined her.

Lion pouted and in his cute little demon form it was hard not to say "awwwwwwww."

He then pointed down his horn and got ready to charge. Lion sped forward (in an adorable frolicking fashion) and dug his horn into Ral because he was the closest one. Lion's horn got lost in all the squishy fat of the mushroom and he bounced backward.

At that Ral began to laugh and it was a deep bellowing rumble that reminded Tegu of Santa Claus. From then on no one could stop laughing.

Finally, as they continued onward and everyone was gasping for breath and wiping tears from their eyes, they saw a deep black silhouette with glowing yellow eyes. From what they could see (Tegu with great difficulty) it had two pointed ears, an odd type of skin that had no fur, a long swishing tail and two long slavering jaws.

The party immediately knew that this was a hostile demon and were in no way prepared or trained with their new forms to attack it.

"We have to continue on," Aspen said softly. "This is the only way for us to reach the castle. Sure we can go around it but either way, we pass the demon."

"Let's go around it now," said Sam. "I'm not going to get any closer."

Kale nodded in agreement.

Just as they began slightly turning in their direction to go around the demon, it leapt forward in such a long leap that it covered nearly 30 feet. The demon then stood about three paces before them.

The demon was a deep dark blue with angry looking eyes and it was covered in leathery skin. Its long serpentine tail swayed back and forth, menacingly brushing against Ral's squishy body. Sam began to tremble and his stone feet made cracking noises. A frightened muffled sound came from Kale and Tegu stopped slobbering. The demon's long crocodile jaws curled into a grin which revealed rows and rows of sharp teeth. Its feet had seven long silver nails on each paw and tufts of fur hung about its ankles.

"It's a shame this is the only demon I absorbed," it said with a vicious smile that was made complete with its demonically angry eyes.

The demon opened its jaws and quickly snapped them together with a clicking noise. Then in a whirlwind of fire, the demon changed into a fireball with a long curvy tail. It was the monster known as a Jr. effy and from the fire emerged two creepy angry eyes and a psychopathically ferocious smile.

Before they knew it the five had returned to their human forms.


	21. Chapter 21

Kale was happily opening and closing her jaw, Sam was smiling down at his feet, Tegu was repeatedly blinking, Ral was looking at his skinny stomach and arms and Lion had his same serious expression on his face. However, their joy was short lived. There was a maniacal fire demon they needed to kill and it was the first one of the Elemental Demons.

"Lion," said Aspen, "now's your time to shine."

Lion gave a grim smile and pulled out his black and white dagger. Although no one but Lion really noticed it, his hand was glowing black like the day he first received his weapon. Perhaps it really was his chance to shine; a chance to channel his anger at something else.

"Let's do this," he said sharply and ran forward at the demon, dagger raised high.

At that the rest of the group charged after him with their weapons raised. Ral even gave a dramatic battle cry to add to the effect.

Aspen leapt with a snarl at the Fire Demon and she realized with alarm that her paw passed right through the Jr. effy leaving her with a nasty burn. Lion was the next one to realize it and soon everyone did.

Puzzled expressions showed on everyone's faces. If they couldn't damage it, how would they defeat it?

Abruptly the Fire Demon bust into a whirlwind of flames and spun itself around the six in a fury of flame and heat. The monster swirled around, igniting dead trees, as well as Aspen's fur and the two magician's cloaks. Tegu and Kale had their armor heated to an unbearable temperature and their skin began to blister as the other three decided to stop, drop and roll. Only Lion was not affected by the fire seemingly because it was his element.

The whirlwind got faster and faster when Lion angrily thrust his dagger at it and the tip poked out at the other side. He yanked the dagger downward and although it did not kill the monster or even damage it there was a gap where the flames collided into the knife. He then glanced out of the gap and saw demons staring at them, watching with awe. There were only bird and bat mixes but there were at least forty of them. They appeared to be attracted to the light.

Lion drew back his dagger as he heard a cry. Next to him Aspens entire body was engulfed in flames since she was mainly composed of fur.

"RAL! SAM!" Lion cried through the roar of the wind. "Use a bolt, or a claw or something!!!!!!"

And so with robes on fire, the magicians shot a few bolts and claws right into the flaming tornado. That intensified the brightness by ten times with a strange bluish tinge and a few curious demons flew towards it.

The bat and bird mixed demons had never before seen fire before, especially not fire with an unearthly blue glow to it. They flew right at it- and right into it.

The roar of the whirlwind was broken by the painful shrieks and howls of the demons as they burst into flames and flew away as far as they could before their charred and flaming bodies fell to the ground dead.

At that moment the fire demon was disoriented. It changed into a form of a fire boar then rapidly into a fire sentential robot monster then into a bain. A bain is a monster that resembled the dog-like demon with the stone tail they fought only days ago but covered in brown fur with white flame looking patterns on its paws as well as a thick stone collar and massive tusk-like teeth. It smiled and seemed to prefer this choice.

The fire demon stood taller than the Demon Lord himself and at that it lunged at the six who were burned and blistered except for Lion. While his companions recovered he would have to fight it off on his own. He grabbed his dagger and hurled it at the demon's face but the monster swiveled its head around and the dagger bounced harmlessly off its tusk.

Lion gulped. This was going to be harder than he thought.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's note:** Sorry it took me so long to post another chapter but I have been in Washington. For those of you who read this chapter, thank you for your patience.

"There has to be some way to stop it," Aspen wheezed, her fur charred and burnt. "Lion you should know its every weakness and attacks, this is your element, and you're practically joined to it."

"But I don't know what to do!" Lion cried as he retrieved his dagger and did a pathetic attempt of attacking the bain. It smiled mockingly at him then charged. The bandit had to jump out of the way and the demon just narrowly missed him.

"Lion," said Ral who began shooting a few magic claws at the bain. "What are your weaknesses?"

"Pfffff," blew Kale. "That's an easy one. He has a short fuse."

"I DO NOT!" Lion shouted angrily.

"Seems like you do," Tegu nodded. She swung her blade out at the bain and it dug into the leg of the monster.

"Nuh-uh," snorted Lion.

"Yuh-huh," argued Kale.

"And by what we have seen in the past, it would appear that Kale and Aspen are the two people er… _living things_… that cause you to argue," said Ral. "Aspen because she can be just as fierce as you at times and Kale because she's… annoying."

"Well girls, it looks like you going to have to help him," said Sam.

Aspen and Kale made disgusted faces at him but immediately stopped when they saw Lion trying to kill the bain on his own. They knew he wasn't going to be able to do this on his own.

Kale's smile vanished and her expression was a serious one that was rarely ever seen by anyone. Fighting was not the time for fooling around and she knew it.

Aspen unsheathed her silver claws. "Okay, it's time to kill this thing."

At that everyone ran to the bain except Lion who was already fighting the monster on his own. The bain was leaning toward him with a vicious and drooling smile as it got ready to finish the bandit off. Just as Lion hopelessly tried to dodge the demon and it raised a massive paw to crush him, Aspen leapt onto the side of the monster and dug her claws into its flesh.

The bain let out a snarl as it threw its head back in a yelping howl when Ral shot a bolt right at the nose of the monster. With growl it spun into a whirlwind of fire and turned into the demon mix they first saw. The monster began fighting with Aspen who was about the same size as it and they were lost in a mess of fur, teeth and claws. The rest of the gang tried to knock it off with a magic attack or something but they were in fear of hitting Aspen.

That was when Kale ran forward and began shouting to the monster. "You're such a loser, Aspen can easily beat you, you stupid weakling!" If the demon was anything like Lion it would not stand for taunts like that and the words would hurt its pride.

It worked. The demon leapt out of the fight with Aspen and erupted into a mess of flame while it ran towards Kale. It turned into what looked like a long serpentine dragon made entirely of fire. The monster began snaking its way to Kale who stood there, with her bow drawn. The demon smiled viciously. It knew that the arrows wouldn't hurt it.

That was when Lion sprang forward and swung his dagger threw the neck of the dragon monster, literally detaching the head from the body, but it did not damage the demon.

The dragon gave a loud roar and it spun around to face Lion. Before it could attack him however, Ral and Sam threw all the glowing attacks they could at it. The demon glanced at them but still continued after Lion. However, before the dragon monster could reach Lion a swarm of crow and stirge mixes plunged toward the flaming monster, igniting at impact. The demons had no idea that fire could burn, until they crashed into it.

The dragon spun about, throwing its head into the air and crashing into more demons that burst into flames. With a crash the monster fell into an old dead tree which flared up instantly.

From the burning tree leapt a demon that appeared to be immune to the fire. It was the blue leathery Fire Demon. It opened its crocodile jaws in a snarl and began running right at Lion. The monster leapt forward right at Lion. It was going to kill one of them before it would ever retreat. After all, it had Lion's pride.

The Fire Demon leapt into the air straight at Lion. It fell on top of him with open jaws and right onto Lion's dagger. The bandit leapt back as the demon collapsed to the ground with its jaws in a gaping roar but all that came out was a gurgling noise as blood as black as the sky began flowing out of its mouth. The creature flared up into fire, then turned into a bain, then a jr. effy and last, the flaming dragon. However, the fire died down slowly to reveal a skeleton of cooling embers. Then just like that it crumbled into ash and blew away into the wind.


	23. Chapter 23

Koylek was not in a good mood. He had just witnessed the six defeat his Fire Demon in his black orb and was now in the form of the black taurospear shooting bolts at random including Martical and unfortunate demons below him.

When the Demon Lord had finally calmed down he sat in his throne and gazed at his land with boiling hatred before returning to his preferred wolf and balrog form.

"Martical," he growled, "somewhere out there, the five humans and Aspen have just defeated my precious Fire Demon. They are so dangerously close to defeating me; it may happen sooner than we think."

Martical stayed silent in fear of saying the wrong thing, especially with her master in this mood.

Koylek sighed. "However, I do believe that I have enough power to extend my borders. After all, the only ones standing in my way are in my borders this very minute, I now have power over them."

"Of course, My Lord," said Martical.

Koylek curled his lip in either disgust or happiness, it was difficult to tell.

"Ah yes, Martical, that is exactly what I shall do."

"Brilliant, My Lord." Martical turned to leave.

"Come, Martical," growled Koylek. He walked hurriedly to the mouth of his cave and stood before his loyal subjects. His minions bowed instantly.

"Today I will extend our land to the heart of Victoria Island!" The Demon Lord bellowed with a malevolent grin. "We shall claim all territory now owned by everyone; monster and mage, and their world shall finally be ours!"

The minions squawked and roared triumphantly.

"But to do so," Koylek snapped, "I need every last one of you out of my sight! I need utter focus and concentration!"

The demons below him immediately quieted and stalked away.

With that the Demon Lord turned into his true form as soon as all was quiet.

Just as he began to concentrate, Martical warily approached him.

"Yes?" Koylek resumed to his balrog mix.

"My Lord, if all the people you capture and turn into demons aren't happy with their new leader, there could be enough of them to rebel and possibly overpower you."

Koylek sighed. "Only the five most powerful people could resist my power to turn them evil and they are inside my boundaries right now, unable to leave. Everyone else shall be changed into vicious demons that might even be unique like you, Martical, if I am lucky. After all, I've never controlled the entire world. Even the priests will quiver in fear."

Martical nodded and stepped back as the Demon Lord changed into his true form yet again. He seemed to be utterly still, not the slightest movement because he was focusing all his power. Then suddenly, his shadowy figure became bigger and larger, bursting with power difficult to contain.

Koylek's true form seemed to be no longer made of shadows. It was now a terrible shifting type of form, stretching thin and breaking then reforming like an inky black liquid. The Demon Lord surged forward across the pitch black sky, stretching until he covered the whole area and reached the edge of his land. There Koylek began to push and strain against the barrier until he appeared to have found a weak spot in the wall where he forced a tendril through. It seeped into the other world like an open wound and Koylek retreated back to his throne, utterly exhausted.

The Demon Lord collapsed in his balrog form in his throne. Martical had never seen her Lord so weak before.

"My Lord, are you finished?" she asked.

"Yes I am," responded Koylek, his breath labored. "Just wait, soon enough that world shall be ours."

"What about the five travelers and Aspen, My Lord?"

The Demon Lord seemed to ponder the question for a moment.

"The Fire Demon has failed me," he said thinking out loud. "My time will not come for me to crush their hopes; after all soon I will control Victoria Island, then spread my power to Orbis and Ludibrium. The only ones who stand in my way are those six."

Martical cocked her head, waiting for a satisfactory answer.

"Kill them, Martical. Kill them all."

The obedient minion bowed before spreading her wings and taking off.


	24. Chapter 24

The catastrophe came slowly into Victoria Island.

It was just around morning and it was pouring rain throughout the forests of Ellinia, to the gutters of Kerning City and making Perion a muddy pit. The people, however, got up as usual, grabbed their gloves, arrows, swords or staffs and marched outside to gain some experience. The island went on as usual, trapped to its familiar routine, completely unaware of the terror soon to come. Only the monsters and pets really noticed anything unusual. The pets were running around in circles as if chasing their tail which is completely normal for the dogs and maybe mini cargos but you know something is wrong when the penguins start doing it as well. The monsters were particular frightened and instead of running to their attacker to damage them they would run away like a frightened puppy. Even the golems appeared to feel some fear.

The storm intensified around noon and the Maple travelers all across the island returned to the nearest town to seek shelter from the torrents of rain. The raging storm doubled the fury of the wind and rain and the dark clouds were split in half with the forked streaks of lightning. The sky was flashing and booming with an unknown rage and the downpour became so heavy that it masked the black clouds above.

Victoria Island was in the center of a huge, rotating monstrosity of a cloud. The island was in the eye of a hurricane.

Around mid-afternoon the rain thinned and stopped and the people of Maple Story realized there was nothing to worry about. They then walked out from their shelters and began to innocently hunt a few monsters. However, their relief was short lived. For there, hanging above the island was the center of a spiraling cloud that stretched across the land and at its core the sky began to glow a foul and deep crimson red. Like a viciously slow whirlpool of blood it stirred around and around, rumbling and growling, with flickers of dry lightning lashing from above and speeding down to the streets and forests below.

Behind the clouds, night fell, deepening the already dark day to a pitch black color except for the bloodied eye above. The fog gathered in the alleys of Kerning City and the forests of Ellinia. It rolled out all throughout the island, covering the area with a thick and muddy blanket of fog. And with the fog came the demons.

They seemed to come from underground, pawing their way to their destination. They walked like ghosts through barriers, slipped from the shadows, slid beneath doors. They stalked and shifted and the monsters followed after them like dogs to their master with a desire for a share of the power.

There were only six demons, each one formed from that single tendril pushed through into this world by their master. These demons were no mixes on commonly found monsters but deformed and venomously deranged shadows and serpents. They were black, purple and muddy brown with long jaws and saliva as red as the whirlpool that floated above them. The demons moved noiselessly across the island lokoing around through their deep sunken holes for eyes and a desire only to overshadow the people of the island into monstrosities like them.


	25. Chapter 25

Oh how I remember the joyful discoveries of a review left at the end of my chapter and the excitement I felt as my fingers shakily read it so that it could remain with my story to be cherished by me and my readers. I have no idea what the heck I just said. Sniff I'm losing my reviewers and avid readers… 

Everyone soon turned into their demon forms after the Fire Demon was dead. Sam found it easier to walk as a demon, Tegu found herself with a stubby back set of legs and better sight, Kale had three long pointed teeth sticking out from the upper part of her newly discovered mouth, Ral was more crow than mushroom, and Lion was a ferocious looking grupin that no longer had such a pitiful child's voice.

Although they had no idea where the next Elemental Demon would turn up or where the Demon Lord's castle was and even Aspen was confused, Ral had the idea of going wherever the amount of demons appeared to be the thickest. One could only assume that the demons would want to be where their master was.

As the six traveled onward they became weary and bitterly fed up with the utter darkness.

"OhmygawdIhaveamouth!" Kale cried happily even though this was their second day since fighting the Fire Demon and everyone was perfectly aware that she had a mouth.

Lion growled and swung a paw through the heap of fur and Kale appeared to disperse where Lion hit her then reassemble.

"Mwa ha ha ha I'm invincible!!!!!!" said Kale with her ridiculous looking overbite.

Lion groaned and ran ahead away from Kale.

"Kale, quit bothering him," moaned Aspen who's paws were too sore to really care about their fighting.

Tegu shivered at how similar Aspen and Lion were getting. She wondered of they realized that but Lion always seemed to be too busy fighting with someone to realize anything.

A few minutes later Ral collapsed. He had been bouncing and flapping his wings the whole time. If trying to fly made him go faster no one noticed.

"You guys," he panted. "We need to stop."

"Works for me," said Sam and he fell onto his side so abruptly he almost crushed Tegu. His massive bulk did crash into Kale, however, but she dispersed in a flurry of hair and returned back into the heap of fur that she was.

"I am the almighty ball of fluff!" the huntress cried triumphantly. "Fear me!"

Aspen laid down. "Ah… I need a good rest," she sighed.

"Me too," growled Lion. "Especially from that annoying bucktoothed yeti thing."

"Those things have names, you know," snorted Kale angrily, "_me_."

Tegu groaned as she listened to them fighting. She then squirmed around until she was comfortable. Of all demons, she had to be a curse eye. The warrior yawned. Hopefully the mix that these legs belonged to was something better than a curse eye or a wild boar.

Just as they were all comfortably (or not so comfortably) drifting off to sleep they were jolted awake to the sound of thrashing and snarling. Sam woke up with a start and nearly screamed when he saw Aspen forcing back the silver pointed tail of a dog-like demon aimed right at his throat.


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note**: we go back and forth and back and forth and up and down and back and forth and sideways and diagonally and up and down and turquoise and Donner and Blitzer. Here we go back to Victoria Island. And I'll try to make my chapters a bit longer. 

May walked into the depths of the dungeon where the wild kargos, ice drakes and occasional tauromacis hung out, her footsteps echoing around the cave. No one ever came this far unless they were fearless or insanely good and thankfully for her she was one of these, a level 68 ice lightning mage and was very proud about it.

She felt utterly alone, no one else around her or down this deep. The deeper she continued the more fear she felt clutching her chest. May just felt it, a hidden fear that lurked behind every last rock and stalactite of the dungeon.

When at last the mage had reached the ideal hunting spot, she couldn't find anything to hunt. They were gone, all the monsters were no longer in the cave, either destroyed by someone else or something strange had happened.

May looked around fearfully, the silence was unnerving. She spun around and found herself looking directly into a horribly disfigured face. The sight sent her wheeling backwards and almost off the edge of the rock where she stood.

Before her was a shadow-like creature resembling a human with deep sunken holes for eyes, a gaping mouth that hung unhinged on one side and wispy dark blue hair that fluttered behind it like lost souls. Its hands were fully the size of its narrow body, impossibly out of proportion with long legs and sharp knees to complete the mockery of the human shape it possessed.

A long crooked finger came reaching toward her and May stumbled backwards in fright. In her panic she saw rows and rows of monsters spawning from behind the creature, roaring, snarling, grunting, and hissing with anticipation as they clawed over each other in a frenzy to reach the shadow monster but not ever going past it.

May gave a cry when she realized she was cornered and chose her last option- to jump. She leapt off the edge and plummeted toward the wet stone below her. There was a sickening crack as she heard and felt her leg break on impact but a flood of relief washed over her when she saw the monsters above her as little specks.

Gasping for air the mage laid there on the hard stone with her eyes closed. When she felt strong enough to open them, she was looking into that same disfigured face. In a panicked state she shot ice shards at it and lightning bolted from the sky but the creature remained unharmed as it reached a crooked hand toward her face.

May's screams echoed throughout the cave but no one heard her except for the swarm of monsters and the demon ghoulishly grinning at its disfigured creation.

------------------

Others were not so lucky.

Trix was eagerly jumping around Kerning City to talk to the Dark Lord. He was finally level 30 and was about to make his 2nd job advancement as an assassin. He had just finished collecting the dark marbles and had received his proof of a hero award.

Trix had got his name from being a contortionist, his real name was Robert. He made most of his money that way, rather than hunting and did most of his performances in the free market for mesos.

However, here it would stop. After level 30, he would take hunting dead serious and become the greatest assassin ever known.

Or so he thought.

Just as the thief was rounding the corner to the area where the thief lord was, he spotted what looked like a fire boar in the distance. As he craned his neck to look at it he noticed it was being followed by other flaming red specks and other discolored splotches as well.

Trix stood there, perplexed, and aimlessly watching the blob of colors race closer to the city. Only until he saw the detail of every monster charging toward them did he realize that something was horribly wrong.

The rogue squinted to look closer and saw hundreds of thousands of monsters. There were fire boars and mushmoms, snails and curse eyes, drakes and golems, the list went on and on. Monsters from all across the map were charging towards them, in a city.

Immediately Trix began screaming at the top of his lungs.

"MONSTERS!!!! MONSTERS!!!! THEY ARE COMING THIS WAY!!!! MILLIONS OF THEM!!!!!"

At his cry several people raced up towards the rapidly approaching mass of creatures.

They began to throw all they had at the monsters, arrows, magic claws, stars, other weapons and the many items they had in their inventory, ores, leathers, bones, potions, equipment, anything to stop the monster stampede. Many monsters fell to the ground dead but they just kept on coming and even spawning too.

The little Kerning City army was no match for the millions of monsters. The mass just lumbered right over them, stomping the people like bugs and brutally killing them like the warriors, magicians, archers and thieves had so often done to the monsters.

The creatures stampeded through Kerning, killing everyone in sight including the people who assigned quests before they destroyed the run-down buildings, crushed the strewn pipes, demolished even the potions and weapon shops, and littered the paved streets with dead bodies. After that they charged right onto the next area.

Not one person in Kerning City survived.


	27. Chapter 27

Immediately everyone awoke with a jolt and saw Aspen fighting a reddish dog demon who had tried to kill Sam. Lion was the first one to react after the magician rolled from underneath Martical's deadly silver point. Lion leapt forth with his newfound strength and slammed his body into the red demon who was knocked back by the blow. She rolled to the side and right to where Kale was. Martical clutched the ball of fur and looked as if she was going to squeeze Kale to death.

"No one move, or I'll kill the fur ball," said the red demon.

Aspen launched forward to viciously attack Martical and the minion clenched her claws into fists where Kale's neck should have been. However, the dog felt nothing but air between her paws and whipped her head around to see the jr. yeti reassembling herself behind Martical's back.

At that moment Aspen collided into Koylek's servant and they began fighting in a tangled mass of red and purple fur. Ral jumped forward to help Aspen but being a squishy mushroom there wasn't much he could do and he would want to hurt Aspen in the process anyway. That was when Martical's fangs scratched against his squishy body and injected venom. The cleric saw the dark scenery spinning around him and he fell against Tegu for support.

Sam crunched up to the fighting pair and right as the intruder was about to hit him he stuck out his stone foot and it crashed right into Martical's skull. She stood up, dazed as Aspen leapt back to attack directly again but Lion beat her to it. He pounced on Martical and began raking his claws against her skin as she twisted and turned against him in pain. He snarled just like his name suggested and bit into her neck but the bandit lost his grip and she darted away.

Tegu was just about to meet Martical's silver tail because she was still holding up Ral but Kale leapt through the air and bit down on the demon's tail with her three long pointed teeth.

Martical thrashed and swung her tail about but while she was distracted Aspen lunged forward and clawed her sides with her silver claws. Kale lost her grip and went flying off but the purple demon dug her claws into the intruder as the two tried to duke it out. Sam rushed up to them and tried to shoot a fireball but it didn't work so he swung his tail around and knocked Martical out of Aspen's grip.

"Oops," he said.

Aspen paid no attention to him as she shook the pieces of flesh and fur from her claws.

Martical drew back her lips in a vicious snarl before leaping forward- and right over Aspen. The dog demon collided right into Lion and her jaws were fighting to get around his neck. Tegu gently set Ral down and sort of ran towards Martical and Lion. She waited for the perfect opportunity and flung her head onto Martical. Her giant curse eye fangs dug into Martical and clung to her like a grappling hook as the dog demon struggled to get her grip on Lion.

Just when Lion could feel Martical's hot breath and dripping venom on the back of his neck, Aspen leapt forward and grabbed Martical's side with her claws. Aspen then dug her hind claws into the dirt and pulled with all her strength, yanking Martical off Lion.

As the bandit collapsed to catch his breath, Aspen threw the battered red demon onto the ground. Martical struggled to get on her feet but collapsed back down. Aspen walked slowly towards the red demon as if to savor the moment.

"Any last words, _demon_?" she spat, just like Lion had done to her so long ago.

Martical's breath was slow and labored. Aspen raised a claw to finish her off.

"Yes, actually I do," wheezed Martical. "THIS!" she snarled with pure hatred as the dog demon swung her silver pointed tail around and jabbed it into the side of Aspen's neck.

Aspen stood there in utter shock as she watched her own blood drip onto her paws underneath her before she fell to the ground.

------------------

Mwahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa I'm soooo evil!!!!!!


	28. Chapter 28

Probably one of my cheesiest chapters yet. That's also why it's pretty short; because I couldn't take it anymore and nearly yanked my brains out. 

Martical let out a wild laugh. "So, _demon_," she said mimicking Aspen. "My Lord was right to replace you with me, because I am the better fighter."

The five others stared at the red demon and Aspen in pure shock.

Ral was the first one to speak as he struggled to get up. "So you're the demon that the Demon Lord created after Aspen left?"

"In the flesh," Martical snickered. "My name is Martical and it is a pleasure to meet you."

"I wish I could say the same!" Lion appeared to lunge out of no where and tackled the red demon to the ground. He pinned her down against the dirt, snarling with eyes red with hatred.

Martical laughed. "You going to kill me?" she smiled evilly. "What good will that do? Sure you may get your revenge that you live for just like every last brutal demon in this realm but My Lord will create another minion in my place better and stronger than any you have ever seen before."

"So you know your just a little pet to him, and he can easily get another one at his command?!" Lion snarled.

"Oh I know much more than you ever will including the fact that as you waste your time threatening me your precious purple friend is dying as quickly as the blood spills from her neck."

Lion jumped off Martical without hesitation and ran over to Aspen.

The red dog demon stood up and shook herself with a smirk before flapping her battered wings and taking to the sky.

"Aspen!" Tegu called as she shook her friend with her small curse eye arms. "You can't die now!!! Not after making it to the Demon Realm!"

Aspen laid on the ground with the wound from her neck gushing torrents of blood. Her eyes were dull and her mouth was open. Each breath she took was a labored and gasping wheeze.

The five crowded around her to listen to her dying words.

"Find… Shnagico, and don't ever… give…up…"

Aspen took a final shuddering breath and remained still. She was dead.

Lion let out an anguished roar that bellowed across the barren land and shook the lifeless trees.

"I can't believe it, you guys," wailed Kale (heh, that rhymes). "She's really gone."

Sam cried softly. "How foolish of me to believe that we would all make it alive to the journey's end."

Tegu touched Aspen's lifeless body. "She wasn't even with us at the start of it."

"And yet we miss her already like a lost arm," Ral sniffed.

Lion remained quiet with grief in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it most likely because he had a choke in his throat and did not want to cry.

Tegu felt a new feeling churning inside of her along with the sadness from her friend's death. It was determination.

"We will fulfill Aspen's dying wish by finding this 'Shnagico'," she said through clenched teeth as if to stop herself from breaking into tears.

"Without ever giving up," Kale said with a saddened smile.

"To do whatever we must," Sam said putting his clawed hand in front of him.

Ral placed a feathered wing on top of it, Kale put her horn on top of the wing and Tegu determinedly put her little arm at the very top.

"I was actually just reaching for Aspen but this works too," Sam shrugged.

The four looked expectantly at Lion who was hunched over Aspen's body.

The bandit demon looked up at them with probably the only glimpse of emotion they would ever get out of him (other than anger). He let out a fierce roar.

"And tear the Demon Lord limb from limb," he cried, putting his paw at the very top.

"Show no mercy," he growled.

does anyone have a favorite character in the story? Sorry, I just want to know, but tell me pleeeease 


	29. Chapter 29

: I do not know what a disclaimer is. **Author's Note: **Dammit… my story is so clichéd and messed up and stuff… but I'm too lazy to do anything about it. Damn. 

Eniki stood in Ellinia. She was a level 48 ice lightning mage who loved to accessorize. She frequently wore a freshly picked flower behind her ear as she did today and did not wear earrings that gave her the most mana or intelligence but whichever pair looked the best with her flower. Eniki also had at least twenty pairs of colored contacts in her cozy Ellinia home. Those contacts included the deep violet colored ones that she was currently wearing, the exact same color of the flower behind her ear. She also always carried a pair of white contacts with her to make her entire eye seem white and freak out the Noobs. She also had a cute pet panda named Dumpling who she was anxiously looking for because after the sky turned a bloody red the thing had chased its tail and then ran away.

"Dumpling!" she called, feeling like a complete idiot as the other people around her eyed her strangely.

"It's my pet panda, okay?!" she yelled to an assassin who looked at her with wide eyes. He hurried past her, insanely jittery.

It's the sky, no one has been able to calm down since it turned that color, Eniki thought. It was as if the sky brought all possible evil with it, the feeling that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up and your skin prickle with a slight breeze. All of a sudden it had just appeared, without a reason and without warning.

Eniki shivered as she looked up at the menacing sky. It just seemed to declare that all of Victoria Island was in trouble and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The red eye appeared to look down at the feeble people below it. Eniki felt a shiver ripple through her body. The sooner she found Dumpling, the sooner she could get back to her home, where it was all nice and snuggly and she didn't have to worry about the swirling sky.

As she climbed down a rope and brushed the stiff broken fibers from her hands the shadows all around her seemed to get a lot darker and more prominent. Either it was night on the other side of that massive cloud, she was letting her imagination get the better of her or _ugh,_ she shouldn't even think about that. Where was her stupid panda?! The sky wasn't getting any brighter!

"Dumpling!" Eniki called again as she fast walked across a patch of land. "Dumpling!" She eyed a panicked fairy that should normally be giving away quests flit wildly above her head. Clutching her cloak around her shoulders she raced across to the other side of Ellinia, frantically searching for her panda.

Everyone else in the area seemed to feel it as well. The uneasy feeling that tells you something definitely isn't right just hung in the air and pressed down on your shoulders like the unknown threat it was. Eniki looked behind her and saw a fearful level 12 warrior walking as close to her as possible for comfort. She supposed that the little Noob felt safe and protected around her from the unseen menace. Normally she would have put on her white contacts and scared him away but now wasn't the time. He looked at her with his hands shakily on his sword, ready to put up a pathetic attempt against anything that might threaten him. Eniki ignored the warrior. Let the little guy feel safe with me as his protection, she thought.

Before her, dead ahead, was a girl crouching in the grass, almost doubled over in pain. A level 20 or so thief was bent over her, doing his best to comfort her by rubbing her back or talking to her softly. Immediately when he saw them the warrior following Eniki ran forward to the other boy.

"Slash, what's wrong with her?" asked the beginning warrior, when he reached the boy and the girl.

"I don't know. A large shadow sort of, just floated over her and then she got a weird look in her eyes and sank to her knees," answered the boy. "She's also made weird grunting noises like she's really in pain."

The girl on the ground was a fairly high level crossbowman judging by her clothing and weapon. Eniki rushed up to her and the other two boys to see what she could do to help. She grabbed the archer's long whitish blond hair and pulled it back so she could look at her face. The girl's eyes were tightly shut and she was breathing heavily through clenched teeth. She really looked like she was in pain but maybe her stomach just hurt and nothing was serious, or so Eniki hoped.

"Is this your friend?" she asked the two boys, feeling a sense of power being a higher level than them.

They nodded shakily.

Eniki let go of her grip on the girl's hair. She poked her with her staff. "Are you okay?" she said loudly, trying to sound like she knew what she was doing and helped save people doubled over in pain on the ground all the time.

"I've been trying that for the past 30 minutes," said Slash.

"She's been like this for 30 minutes?" Eniki asked, a little harshly.

The thief cowered. "Actually for more than an hour."

"Wow." The mage shook her head in bewilderment.

She yanked back the girl's hair again and lifted up her eyelids with much effort because they were shut closed so tightly. Eniki screamed and shoved the girl away at what she saw.

The girl's eyes were red.

oh yeah, I NEED (well I'm not going to die if you don't tell me) TO KNOW YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS!!!! (out of the main five). 


	30. Chapter 30

Author's Note:

I find this chapter entirely pointless, its mainly a filler (which explains why it's short) and my creek of inspiration is running dry.. but fear not faithful readers (if there are any of you left) I AM ALIVE!!

--

It felt so unusually natural when the group slid into their human forms. Even though it was so unexpected and there was not a demon in sight, Sam barely even noticed he had changed out of his drake mix.

"It seems our demon bodies have connected to our real ones, becoming as comfortable as our actual human bodies," Kale said. 

Lion looked at the rest of his friends (if you could call them that) with a freaked out/astonished face (somewhat like this: Oo). 

"Ooooook-ay," said Tegu pulling her sword form its sheath and holding it out dangerously in front of her. "Let's see what we're up against."

"If Aspen were here, she'd tell us," Sam said gloomily.

Ral let out a sigh in agreement. They were not holding up so good without Aspen, especially Kale and Lion. Kale's smile did not pop up as frequently or seem as happy as it once was and the fire in Lion's eyes appeared to have dulled even though he wanted nothing more than to tear Koylek apart with his bare hands.

"Come on guys," Ral said, shaking away the last bits of Martical's poison. "We need to destroy this demon, with or without Aspen."

"I would prefer with," growled Lion, holding his dagger. 

"Wouldn't we all," Tegu said, looking around for the Elemental Demon.

Ral let out an angry cry. "You aren't helping! Why don't we all act like Kale for a while and look at the glass half full?!

Lion grimaced and pretended to shiver but when Tegu glanced at the blonde archer she noticed Kale wasn't smiling.

"Shut up, Ral," Tegu said angrily. "You can't try to forget Aspen's death! You can't even try to look at the glass half full, the stupid glass isn't half full, it isn't even half empty! In our case, _there isn't a drop of water in the glass!_ Even Kale sees it that way!" Tegu literally felt herself shaking with anger as she wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead.

Ral lowered his gaze to his feet and hung his head. "Tegu, you're right. I just wanted to try to get everyone out of this gloomy mood."

Tegu felt the anger rising to her temples when Sam placed hand on her shoulder. "He didn't mean to get you upset. We're all just depressed and tense from Aspen's death." 

Tegu took a deep breath and relaxed a little. "Okay, okay."

"Now let's find that demon," Sam said.

Tegu looked around for any demon but all she saw were boulders and dead trees. "It's not here."

"But it has to be here," Lion said. "Why else would we have turned back into humans?"

Kale shrugged. "Maybe it's just a false alarm."

"Don't be such an idiot, it can't be a false alarm," the bandit said. 

"I agree with Lion," Sam said.

Tegu saw the smoke coming off Kale's head. "YOU AGREE WITH HIM THAT I'M AN IDIOT?!

"No, no," said a very wide-eyed Sam. "I just think that it can't be a false alarm."

"Well then, where's the demon?" asked Ral.

"Oh, now don't you join in!" cried Tegu.

"You just did too!" countered Lion.

Before anyone knew it they were at each other's throats and shouting insults faster than they could come up with ones to shout.

Lion was in the middle of screaming his brains out in some form of angry gibberish when he began to shake. Their arguing was cut short when they realized the ground was shaking slightly.

"Now that's weird," Ral said, looking at the tree in front of him jiggle back and forth.

Before any of them had a chance to reply, a mighty earth tremor savagely shook them off their feet. 


	31. Chapter 31

****

Author's Note:

HOLY CRAP I'M STILL ALIVEEE!! (not like anyone still reads this story anyways) AND I MADE A LONGER CHAPTER!! YAY!! (sniff I'm so proud of me!). Now let's see if I can make all my chapters this long…

--

The ground quaked and quivered and shook all five down to their teeth. It reminded Tegu of the first day this all started, when the demon came from the ground in a rock container. She looked down at her hand and noticed it had begun to glow.

"Guys," she said fearfully, "I think we're dealing with the Earth Demon."

The other four nodded and got ready to fight.

Suddenly, the large boulder in front of them began to move. It broke apart into different pieces that were still connected and stood up to its full size. It was the same color as the dark black, brown and grey scenery around them except for its two glowing white eyes, gargoyle shaped head, and dead plants covering its arms.

"It's a golem-gargoyle," Sam said.

"Yeah, but one from the demon world," said Tegu.

There was the sound of creaking stone as the demon opened its mouth to speak. "You'd be surprised at what I can do. So you better beware."

Kale rolled her eyes. "Why are all the demons this cocky?"

The golem creature let out a roar and began running toward them at a breakneck pace.

Tegu was the first one to make contact with it. She hit its arm with her sword and sparks went flying as she struggled against it. The Earth Demon pushed forward, surprised at the warrior's strength. Its white eyes widened and it lunged backward, making Tegu fall forward.

"Very good, warrior, very good," it growled. The golem crouched as the others ran for it and the demon's legs changed shape to fit its body on all fours. A long stone tail grew from it, the Earth Demon grew claws to match its gargoyle head but with the bulky build of a golem. It then began charging at full speed.

Ral and Sam were knocked back as if hit by a speeding train and went flying through the air because they lacked strength and dexterity. Lion and Kale were shoved back, leaving marks in the dirt but managed to stay standing while Tegu took it head on. The warrior grunted as she managed to wedge her sword in between the neck and chest of the demon before being knocked backwards.

Lion leapt up on top of the stone monster's head and jabbed his dagger into the rock, making a noticeable crack. He yanked it out and stuck another one in the groove between the head and the neck.

Ral came running forward, a bit disoriented from the fall but otherwise fine, and fired a magic claw at Lion's dagger. Sam came shortly afterward and followed suit. There was a horrible creaking noise as the head leaned downward, disconnected from its neck at the top. Kale leapt at it with a running start and kicked Tegu's sword in deeper. There was a louder crack and the stone head fell away from the rest of the body.

"Yeah! Alright, we did it!" cheered Sam.

"I don't know," Ral said warily. "Didn't that just feel too easy?"

"Yes," agreed Tegu. "I know what you mean."

Their eyes widened when they saw the head of the stone creature laughing.

"Yup," groaned Lion, "I knew it was too easy."

With the sound of cracking stone the head slowly began to change shape into a lucida. When the change was complete the stone lucida suddenly became a real one while the body of the demon turned into a commander skeleton.

Kale shot an arrow at the lucida but at the moment of impact the front half of the monster turned to stone so that the arrow harmlessly bounced off. With a vicious smile, the lucida turned back into flesh.

"Okay then, how are we going to stop it?" the huntress asked.

Before anyone could say anything the commander skeleton barked an order to its undead horse and the creature charged forward, connecting directly into Lion. He swung his dagger angrily at it but his weapon only met hard stone.

"Come on, Tegu," said Ral while using magic claw against the charging demons. "What are your weaknesses?"

Tegu shrugged. "I'm not very fast."

"Okay then," Sam said. "How can we use that against the demon?"

"If we tire it out, then do you think it won't be able to change to stone as quickly?" asked Kale.

Lion took another jab at the lucida only to watch it turn to stone and block the blow. "It's worth a shot," he said.

"But speed doesn't seem to be an issue with this demon," said Ral. "I understand how it is slow when it's made of stone, but now the Earth Demon is entirely flesh and bone."

"So all we have to do is make it turn into stone, which will tire it out, so it can't change from flesh to stone as quickly, right?" Sam asked.

Kale had a very confused expression on her face.

Lion smiled. "Easy enough."

Tegu looked down at her armor and fingered the chain mail on her skirt. "Okay then, let's do this!"

--

The five stood in a line, directly before the two demons.

The commander skeleton's horse snorted what looked like black smoke and pawed the ground with a bony hoof. The lucida glared and dropped into a crouch.

Tegu narrowed her eyes. "Charge."

On cue, everyone started running as fast as they could and the demons quickly chased after them. Being the fastest, Lion and Kale took the lead, followed by the magicians and lastly, Tegu. The lucida and commander skeleton showed no signs of weakness in speed as they ran forward tirelessly after their victims.

"FIRE!" cried Tegu, like a military officer giving a command.

Kale, having a wonderful lead in front of the demons (while the demons were inches away from reaching Tegu) began rapidly firing arrows at the two demons. The Earth Demons began flashing from living to stone and back and forth in a blur, unable to keep up with Kale's arrows. When Ral and Sam caught up because the demons were slowing and could risk running backwards they soon followed suit and shot claws and bolts at the demons. The lucida and commander skeleton Earth Demon were clearly slowing as they changed from rock to ordinary faster than subliminal messages on T.V. However, they were still gaining ground on Tegu. As she literally ran for her life, she remembered her fight with Aspen that seemed so long ago. Tegu smiled and faced the demons.

Just when they were about to crush her she slid out of her armor and ran as fast as she could. Instantly she felt lighter and that she could run miles on end.

The lucida let out a startled sort of bugle sound and ran forward with a fire in its eyes. However, the magic claws and arrows continued to pelt it and the skeleton, showing a gradual decrease in their speed.

"I think they are getting tired!" Ral cried excitedly.

"Okay then," Sam said. "Now what?"

"Well, they can't change that fast from flesh to stone forever, especially if they're getting tired." The four turned to see Tegu running surprisingly fast… and wearing only her underclothes.

The others looked away from Tegu and turned their attention to the demons. Sure enough, they had a few arrows sticking out of them that didn't come out even as they changed to stone and back. The magic attacks had to have done some damage to them as well.

"Perfect," growled Lion. "It's time to finish them off."

He ran forward to face the demons head on as Tegu finally caught up with the others. Lion chose the lucida as his target as he slid underneath the running demon. As the monster ran above him, Lion jabbed his dagger into its stomach. He made a rather long gash on the creature but still it continued running. Dark purplish blood oozed from its wound and a magic claw from Sam made it stop in its tracks and fall over. The lucida turned to stone and crumbled away.

"Yeah!" cheered Kale. "One down, one to go!" She knocked an arrow into her bow and fired it at the commander skeleton.

The other demon was a different problem. Even though it did not have time to turn to stone at the impact of the arrow, it still bounced harmlessly off the bone.

Ral looked at a few other arrows lodged in it. "Maybe you just have to find its weak spots," he said.

"But when hunting, these things fall apart all the time," Tegu said.

Sam prepared for another attack. "Yeah, but this is a demon."

"Good point," said Tegu. "Weak spots it is." She ran forward back to the skeleton demon and threw her sword into the groove of its vertebrate. "Just like the rock gargoyle," she said quietly to herself. Feeling horribly exposed without her armor she grabbed her slightly dented outfit and pulled it on, ready to face the demon.

The horns of the undead horse hooked into her side but thankfully she had her armor on as Tegu twisted around while hanging from the horns so that she now sat on the head of the horse. It gave a pathetic whinny and the head fell off underneath her weight, despite the fact that it turned to rock. The skeleton rider gave an angry bark as he tried to trample her with the decapitated horse's hooves but Lion leapt forward and twisted Tegu's sword (which was still lodged in the skeleton's backbone). The demon turned to brownish gray stone at the impact but it did not stop it from falling apart.

Tegu grabbed her sword out from the skeleton and watched it crumble to pieces.

Kale, Ral and Sam ran up to Tegu and Lion as the looked at the Earth Demon's remains.

"Is it dead?" Sam asked.

As if in response the last rocky remnants of the two demons began to move together.

Lion groaned. "It's reassembling."

However, the pieces were not very big. When the process was done, there was a fairly small snaky worm on the ground.

The five began to laugh. The Earth Demon looked around fearfully and slithered into a hole in the ground.

"Well, I guess that means that we've won," Tegu said ginning.

At that, a large stone hand shot up from the ground and grabbed the nearest victim by their ankle.

--


End file.
